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Photographic 

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CIHM/ICMH 
Microfiche 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


□    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


□ 


D 


<ouverture  endommagifl 


□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  palliculie 

□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  cot  verture  manque 


D 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gAog;aphiqu8s  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleua 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 
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r~~|    Pages  discoloured,  stained  cr  foxed/ 


The 

posa 

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blon 
othfl 
first 
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The 
shai 
TINI 
whii 

Mar 
diffi 
anti 
bagi 
righ 
raqi 
mat 


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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmift  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

1         1 
i 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


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first  page  with  a  printed  Oi  illustrated  Impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
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filmage. 

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dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impresslon  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  fllmAs  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impresslon  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernldre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernlAre  Image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  ~^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
fiimis  i  des  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  II  est  film*  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArleur  gauche,  da  gauche  h  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'ir.iages  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
lllustrent  la  mithode. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

The  EDITH  and  LORNE  PIERCE 
COLLECTION  of  CANADI  ANA 


ilueen's  University  at  Kingston 


^p  ^mtin  mimm. 


L 


NARRATIVE  AND  CRITICAL  HISTORY  OF  AMER. 
jCA.  With  Bibliographical  and  Descriptive  Essays  on 
us  Historical  Sources  and  Authorities.  Profusely  illus- 
trated  with  portraits,  maps,  facsimiles,  etc.  Edited  by 
JfsTiN  WiNsoR,  Librarian  of  Harvard  University,  with 
the  cooperation  of  a  Committee  from  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  and  with-  the  aid  of  other  learned 
Societies.  In  eight  royal  8vo  volumes.  Each  volume, 
»ei,  Is- so;  sheep,  nc/,  I6.50;  half  morocco,  nef,  $7.50. 
(Sold  only  by  subscription  for  the  entire  set.) 

READER'S  HANDBOOK  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REV- 
OLUTION,     .6mo,  $1.25. 

WAS  SHAKESPEARE  SHAPLEIGH?  ,6mo,  rubri- 
cated  parchment  paper,  75  cf  •  is. 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS.andhow  he  receivedand 
imparted  the  Spirit  of  Discovery.  With  portraits  and 
maps.    8vo,  gilt  top,  I4.00. 

CARTIER  TO  FRONTENAC.    A  Study  of  Geographical 

Discovery  ,n  the  interior  of  North  America,  in  its  his- 

oncal  relations,  .534-.700.     With  full  cartographical 

Illustrations  from  Contemporar-  Sources.      8vo,  gilt 

top.  '  ° 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY, 

EosTON  AND  New  York. 


Cartier  to  jTrontenac 


v^t^o^''' 


& 


SYLVANUS,   1511 


FPANQUELIN,    1684 


GEOGRAPHICAL  DISCOVERY  IN  THE 

INTERIOR 


OF 


NORTH  AMERICA 

IN   ITS    HISTORICAL  RELATIONS 

1534— 1700 

IV/T//  FULL  CARTOGRAPHICAL  ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS   FROM    CONTEMPORARY   SOURCES 


"BY 


JUSTIN  WINSOR 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

(Cbe  fiftictisibe  prcK^,  Cambriboc 

1894 


I    L 


f60^'?. 


n 


Copyright,  1894, 
By  JUSTIN  WINSOR. 

^11  rights  reserved. 


,3 


SECOND  eAitIOK. 


Themverside  Press,  Cambrklge,  Mass    USA 
Electrotyped  aad  Printed  by  H.  0.  hJuZoh  ^  cl 


ghton  and  Company. 


To  JAMES  B.   ANGELL,   LL.   D., 

Phesident  of  the  Univehsity  of  Michigan. 


Dear  Doctor  :  — 

Your  fortune  took  you  from  the  seaboard  of  New  England  to  the 
valley  of  the  St-  Lawrence,  and  on  the  banks  of  that  lake  where 
Champlain  first  invoked  the  enmity  of  the  Iroquois,  you  took  your 
place  among  those  who  preside  over  our  American  colleges.  Thence 
you  went  to  a  distant  verge  of  that  same  valley,  and  near  the  path 
which  La  Salle  followed  in  the  boldest  action  of  his  life,  you  hava 
developed  the  greatest  university  which  we  have  beyond  the  moun- 
tains. 

No  one  knows  better  than  yourself  how  the  great  valley  which  the 
American  people  shares  with  others  on  the  north,  and  the  greater  valley 
of  the  interior  which  is  all  ours,  and  which  almost  becomes  one  with 
the  other  at  various  points,  carry  the  streams  of  national  life  back  and 
forth  between  the  gulf  which  Cartier  opened  and  that  other  gulf  which 
Columbus  failed  to  comprehend.  This  book  cannot  be  more  fitly 
inscribed  than  to  you,  by  aa  adopted  son  of  your  university,  and  your 
friend. 


Jil/llk/6hoU^ 


Harvard  University, 
September,  1S93. 


CONTENTS   AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

From  Columbus  to  Cartier.    1492-T534 '**i 

Illustrations  :  Cunerio  Map  (1503),  1;  La  Cosa  Map  (1500),' 
2  ;  Chart  (Kiinshmann),  3  ;  Reinel  Chart  (1503),  6,  G  ;  Portii- 
gueseMappunioude  (1502),  7  ;  Ruysch's  Map  (1508),  8  ;  Denys's 
alleged  Map  (1506),  9  ;  Sylvanus's  Map  in  Ptolemy  (1511),  11  ; 
Lazaro  Luiz's  Map  (15G3),  12  ;  Portuguese  Chart  (1520)]  15 ' 
Coppo's  Map  (1528),  IG  ;  Verrazano's  Map,  17  ;  MaioUo's  Map 
(1527),  19;  Lok's  Map  (1582),  20;  Frauciscus  Monachus's 
Globe  (1526),  22. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Cartier,  Roberval,  and  Allefonsce.     1534-1542  23 

Illustrations  :  Caspar  Viegas's  Chart,  25  ;  Raim.sio's  Hochc^ 
iT-'o  i.  ''''^"*'^  Hocl.elaga,  34  ;  Allefonsce's  Sketch  Maps, 
4^,  43  ;  Cartier,  Portrait,  45  ;  Cartier's  Manor  House,  46. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Results  of  Cartier's  Explorations.    1542-1G03 

Illustrations  :  Mercator's  Cordiform  Map  (1538),  49  •  Ro'tz's 
Charts  (1542),  50,  51 ;  Cabot's  Mappenionde  (1544)  53  •  Des 
celier-s  Map  (154G),  54  ;  Nicolas  Vallard  Map,  55;  Medina's" 
Map  (154o)  59  g  Waldo's  Map  in  Ra„.„sio,  60,  61  ;  Homen.'s 
n^L^lf^'^V  ^^''^^''^tor's  Map  (1.W9),  64;  Ortelius's  Map 
i«  2'v  '  Jutlaeis's  Map  (1593),  67  ;  Quadus's  Map  (1600), 
68 ;  Mohneaux's  Map  (1600),  69  ;  John  Dee's  Map  (1580),  71  • 
Hakluyt-Martyr  Map  (1587).  72. 


48 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Abortive  Attempts  at  Colonization.    lGOO-1607  77 

Illustrations  :  Tadoussae,  after  Champlain,  79 ;  Champlam,  81  j 
Ihe  Ottawa  Route  (1642),  87.  f       >      , 


vi 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 
CIIAl'TKR  \. 


CoLOMZAT:O.V  KgTAI.US.IED  AT  Q,;k,.kc.      1008-1013 

Iixu«TUAT,oNH  :  ChHn,,lHin'.s  Fight  near  Z'^^r'o^,  97  .^h'     "     ^ 
I>'""\Ma,.  of  the  (;..lf  „f  .St.  Lawrouct^flol  :?;,"■ 
(treat  Lakes  (1(51  LM   KM    irr>  .         .1         .  ^"'i-;.  i"-,  ot  the 
of  IIucl«o»'s  I  xpI,.ratioa  '    08  Km    if  V"'"^'  '*'''  '"'  '  ^^"P 
113.  ^'        '  ^'"""I^ '""  «  AstrohiLv.  Ill ;  Ship  (1613), 

CHAPTER  VI. 
War,  Trapk,  and  Missions.    Thk  lAn  r.,..  r» 

Iixc«.HAxioNs:  Chan.;hun?L;r(^0  5?"ll"'"^l '?>'■'?'  "  ^'* 
Fort,  119;  Map  of  the  Huron  Count/y   I'o       M       ,  ""^'''T 
(1621).  125;  Alcxanclor's  Map  (1024)  '^28     '      ^^    '  *'"""'" 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Ql'EBEC    Res-ored.      Explorations    of    Nicolet        n,. 

Champlain.    1030-1035  nicolet.       Devth   op 

IiLUSTRATioNs  :  Chnmphun's  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  (1032;  140  '■  ^^ 
Hondnis's  Map  (1035')    141  .  T5,n  p„    *    """"ce  {IM^),  140 ; 

ri63'>)  142  li'^     T         ,   ;/  ''"*  ^'"''^''  ^^  CLanipIaiu 

^10^.),  142,  143  ;  James's  Map  of  Hudson  Bay,  l45. 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

n.„ii     >    Ti*       ,,„.  '  ^""     ^o'ltreal  and  Vieiiiitv  1f!S. 

JJudley  s  Map  (^104'''t    17n   I7i  .   »•    *t,     r   <»  » 'i-mity,  JOH  ; 

(1«.>^'),  178  ;  Sanson'  'S  (l(^ori70 '.'  V'?  ''  '."'"^'^  ^^^ 

(1050-r.2),    180;    Visseh^Ji/s  m!  i  ^foom  ^^^^^^ 

(1052.  1005),  182  ;  Creuxius's  M.-Ip  [S),'  m,  isf "'  ^  ^""^ 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Feoroanized  Canada.    lGGS-1072 

Ilm;stration8  :    Colbert,  190  •    I  iL  *<5f "  p'     *     "     ',    ',    "     '     '  ^^^ 

River  (1000)   IQo  •  W„  l       > '  i,      !/  "™  ''*'"^  ">«   Sorel 

VAoou;,  ij^  .  Hudson  s  Bay  n00'>"»   10«  .   t„„  u  tit 

Lake  Superior  (1072)  oQa  ono  •  o  -i     T^\i      '/^^' "*  ^"1*  °^ 
Salle,  212  ■  Lavd  oi^j'.  n       v  \?^    t^  ^^^^  ^^^'^^^'  ^10  :  ^^a 
Map  (100*))    021  .  T    ■?"f  '  ^^'-^P  "f  Canada,  210;  Galin^e's 
c      1,^   ,    '''     ^  '  '^"liet's  Larger  Map  ('ie74'»    oqik  .    t  r  *» 
Smaller  Map,  220,  227.  '^^"'*;>  ''''•J  ;  Johet's 


03 


.  136 


166 


189 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  vii 

CHAITKll  Jv. 

The  Mississippi  Ukaohkd.    107.') .    .  o... 

iLLfSTKATioNS  :  Lii  Hoiituii's  I'l.iii  «)1  Mnckiiiac  (1688),  235  •  Joli- 
ffs  Earliest  Map  (1073-74),  245;  his  Curto  Gdndralo  (1681?). 
246  ;  Marquette's  Maps,  248,  24U. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Cataraqui  and  Ckicvkc(Eur.     1073-1G80 qsI 

iLi.rsTHATioNS  :  Hennepin's  Drawing  of  a  Buffi'iloi  259  ;*  Niag'aro 
Kiver,  260  ;  Heimepin'H  View  of  Niagara  Falls,  261. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

DULUTII  AND  HknnKFIN  ON  TKK  MlSSiSSIPPI.      1678-1683  .  273 

Illustrations  :  Bnildins  of  t'le  "Griffon,"  275  ;  Hennepin's  Map 
(16i33),  271);  Terre  do  Jeaso,  281  ;  Hennepm'a  lap  (10.  284 
286.  ' 

CHAPTER  Xlir. 

L/  Sallk,  Frontenac,  and  La  Barre.    1081-1683 ......  288 

Illustrations:  Basin  of  the  Great  Lakes  (1683?),  291  ;  Franque- 
lin's  Mn\,  (1084),  294  ;  his  Map  of  the  Mississippi's  Mouths 
(1084),  290  ;  Starved  Rock,  303  ;  Fort  St.  Louis  de  Quebec 
(1683),  306. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

La  Salle's  Texan  Colony.    1684-1687 3^3 

Illustrations  Map  of  La  Salle's  Camp,  314 ;  Minet's  Sketch 
Map  of  Matagorda  Bay,  315  ;  Minet's  Map  of  Louisiana,  316  ; 
Joutel's  Map,  318,  319. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Denonv.lle  and  Dongan.     1683-1687 32c 

Illustrations  :  Ruins  of  the  Intendant's  Palace  in  Quebec,  327  • 
JaiiGt's  Map  (1690),  332  ;  Plan  of  Fort  Frontenac,  335  ;  Dia- 
gran:  of  Denonvillc's  March,  3.36  ;  Map  of  Iroquois  Country,  by 
Ratfeix  (1688),  338  ;  Map  of  the  Genesee  Country  (1687),  339. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Frontenac  Recalled.    1687-1698 341 

Illustrations  :  Franquelin's  Map  (1688),  344  ;  Coroi'ielli  and 
Tillemon's  Map   (1688),  345 ;  Map  "  Nouvelle  Augleterre  et 


•  •• 

vm 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Nouvel  York,"  from  Blome's  America  ri688>>  ^1P    liT        , 
Great  Lakes  hy  KaiFeix  (1688)  Zj    TU^v'  ^- '  ^^^  °^  *^« 

from  La  Hontan,  357  •  Th^  r  a.       „  ^^^'  •^'^'  353,  c«4  ;  Ships 
350;  Edw„d  WeU^M^ap  (Y6rxS^7I^M.„(,e97)   ^ 

Loui,  (,C98),  3C3,  T,,e  fLL»c  2;S  ^  '^  ''' 


A  STUDY  OF  GEOGRAPHICAL  DISCOVERY  IN 
THE  INTERIOR   OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FROM  COLUMBUS  TO  CARTIER. 

1492-1534. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  discovery  of  Columbus  before  it 
became  evident  to  some,  at  least,  that  the  great  Discoverer 
had  not  found  any  part  of  the  world  neighboring  to  Cathay, 


THE  CANERIO  MAP,  1503. 
[From  the  Sketch  in  ituge's  A'arlogvihit  von  Aii^rika.J 


FROM  COLUMBUS   TO  CARTIER. 


A   NEW   WORLD  SUSPECTED.  8 

however  remotely  connected  with  the  Orient  of  Marco  Polo  the 
new  regions  might  prove  to  be.  After  the  return  of  . 
Columbus  in  1493,  it  is  apparent  that  Peter  Martyr  -S^'' 
hesitated  to  believe  that  Asia  had  been  reached.  It  was  quite 
clear  that  Columbus,  on  his  second  voyage,  himself  felt  uncer- 
tain  of  his  proximity  to  Asia,  since,  to  preserve  his  credit  with 
the  Spanish  sovereigns,  he  forced  his  companions,  against  the 
wiU  of  more  than  half  of  them,  and  on  penalty  of  personal 
violence  If  they  recanted,  to  make  oath  that  Cuba  was  an  Asiatic 
penmsula.  He  even  took  steps  later  to  prevent  one  of  the  re- 
calcitrant  victims  going  back  to  Spain,  for  fear  his  represen- 
tations  would  unsettle  the  royal  faith  that  the  fabled  Orient 
had  been  reached  When  his  pilot,  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  who  was 
one  of  those  forced  to  perjure  themselves,  found  himself  free  to 
make  Cuba  an  island  in  his  map  of  1500,  the  fact  that  he  put 
no  Asiatic  names  on  the  coast  of  a  continent  west  of  Cuba  has 


PART  OF  CHART  NO.   II.  m  KUNSTMANN. 
[Also  in  Bull,  tie  Geog.  Hist,  et  Descriptive,  1880,  pi.  iv.] 

been  held  to  show  that  the  doubt  of  its  being  Asia  had  already 
po.ssessed  that  seaman's  mind.  The  makers  of  the  Cantino 
and  Canerio  maps  in  1502  and  1503  respectively,  in  puttino-  in 
a  coast  for  Asia  distinct  from  this  continent  wlM^b  T,    '^      '''    - 


j\jajL  nat 


I 


FROM  COLUMBUS  TO  CARTIER. 


deWted  estabhsh  Ih.  ,,„i„t  that  as  early  as  the  first  year, 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  cartographers  whose  works  ha™ 
come  down  to  us  had  satisfied  themselves  that  ai-eas  of  laud  I? 
contmental  proportions  had  blocked  further  progress   to  the 

reduced  to  this    Was  this  barrier  a  new  continent,  or  had  the 
islands  which  it  was  supposed  would  be  found  in  themth  to 
Asia  proved  to  be  larger  than  was  imagined  ?    It  was  Col,™ 
bus's  purpose  in  hi,  fourth  voyage  to  find  an  opening  in  tht 
barner  through  which  to  reach  the  territories  of  the  If  i^tic  po 
™;"  :,t*^"  *7»«»-."'e  oireumnavigation  of  the  eX 
ma.r  ;i,  ^  r        u      r^*°"«l  K  4e  statement  ordinarily 
Z  '  *.''*  Columbus  in  1500  died  in  ignorance  of  theTrue 
geographical  conditions  pertaining  to  a  new  continent  Ts  tiT 
whatever  may  have  been  his  profession  in  the  mattet    Ttore 
IS  as  we  have  =een    good  ground  for  the  belief  that  hod  d 
not  mean   he  Spanish  sovereigns  to  be  awakened  from  a  del 
sionm  which  he  deemed  it  for  his  interests  that  the7ahoula 

When  Balboa,  twenty  years  after  Colnmbus's  discovery,  made 
S?Xr        """'I  '"^P""'  *''="  ^o-a  of  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama  there  was  a  substantial  barrier  to  western  oro- 

rZl  „  1 1     ^       .      extremity,  it  still  remained  a  problem 
to  find  out  the  true  character  of  the  northern  barrier  to  such  a 
prepress,  and  to  find  a  place  to  enter  the  land,  along  a  nortttrn 
paraUel,  fp.-  enough  to  i-each  the  historic  India. 
There  we.-e  two  waterways  by  which  this  northern  land  could 

li;A.    "Z.  thT/tT''/^'/"''""''  •'»'  '»  fc^y  years 
»-S:;.    fi!"„    V    f  f       <^°l™''-»'  it  is  not  safe  to  af- 

sid::^t5T  ^^^^P^^^^t^i 
foreMTe^ttr^t :  s  r  HZTe?  ""'V''^^'  r"  ^^- 

English  had  kliown  at  th,:  early  dSroIrgtr  llfw' 

todTv^^Th  '  '"'  'V'  '"'^  '»  '^y  "■^'  -  -«»  -  old  is  know^" 
to-day.     These  great  waterways  lay  within  the  two  great  vaUeys 


THE   GREAT   WATERWAYS.  6 

of  the  yet  uncomprehended  continent  of  the  north,  —  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  St.  Lawrence,  —  which  at  the  west  were  so 
closely  connected  that  tidal  waves  arising  in  Lake  Michigan 
sometimes  overflowed  the  dividing  ridge.  The  early  explorers 
of  the  Great  Lakes  are  known  to  have  passed,  during  the  spring 
freshets,  in  their  canoes  from  one  valley  to  the  other,  by  that 
route  which  enables  the  modern  Chicago  to  discharge  its  sewage 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  instead  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

The  striking  experiences  of  the  Spaniards  at  the  south  served 
to  draw  their  attention  from  a  due  examination  of  the  north- 


BEINEL  CHART,  1503. 
[After  the  Sketch  in  Eretschmer'a  Atlas,  ix.«] 

ern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  so  that  Pineda  in  1519,  in 
finding  a  great  river  flowing  from  the  north,  which  we  now 
identify  with  the  Mississippi,  was  not  prompted  to  enter  it  in 
search  of  gold,  "because  it  is  too  far  from  the  tropics,"  as 
the  Spanish  cosmographer  Ribero  afterwards  expressed  it  in  a 
legend  on  his  map  of  1529.  Moreover,  this  metal  was  not  asso- 
ciated in  their  minds  with  such  low  regions  as  this  river  ap- 
parently drained ;  and  the  white  and  turbid  flow  of  its  waters 
well  out  into  the  gulf,  as  La  Salle  later  noticed,  seems  to  have 
raised  no  conception  of  the  vast  area  of  its  .notary  watershed. 
Almost  two  centuries  were  to  pass  before  its  channel  was  to  be 


6 


FROM  COLUMBUS  TO   C ARTIER. 


fairly  recognized  as  a  great  continental  waterway  •  an^  fl, 
the  explorations  which  tlivuWd  its  Pvfpnf  T  "^ '    ,       ^^^"^ 

and  down  the  stream.  ^  *'''*  '^""^  ^^^"^  *^«  ^«rth 

The  voyages  of  the  Cabots  and  the  Cortereals  had  been  the 
AimBofEng-  outcome  of  a  national  rivalry  which  had  1,    i  ?  . 
Undand  "    Enfrland  aryA  P^  i.       i  ''^  wnicn  nad  sought  for 

Portugal.       J^^g^and  and  Portugal  some  advantage  in  the  north 
o  counterbalance  that  of  Spain  in  the  sou  th      T       n 
be  remembered  that  the  lino  nf  w.  .•  '     ^^  ^^^'^ 


™  PEDRO  BEINEL'S  CHART. 

ley,  and  by  which  .t  was  practicable  to  go  a  long  distance 


d  then 
i  north 

sen  the 
•ht  for 

north 
It  will 
ssterly 

these 


•] 

the 
ith 
of 
pal- 
ace 


CONTEMPORARY  MAPS.  7 

towards  the  west,  must  probably  remain  uncertain.  Investiffa 
tion  in  critical  hands  has  produced  a  divided  opinion.  .Tust 
what  the  Portuguese,  who  soon  followed  the  English  into  these 
waters,  did,  is  also  not  quite  certain  ;  and  though  it  can  hardly 
be  proved  that  the  Cortereals  entered  the  great  northern  gulf 
It  seems  to  be  evident  from  a  Portuguese  portolano  of  I504' 


FROM  A  PORTUGUESE  MAPPEMONDE,   1502, 


[An  Extract  from  the  Facsimile  iu  E.  T.  Hamy's  Paoer  in  t}.«   p'  n    ,  ' ^. 

n^e,  1880.  p.  147  ana  p,.  «.     U  is  LmSralS  5"e  ^/^i^tj'-' ^-"> 

Which  Kunstmann  has  reproduced,  that  at  this  time  they  had 
not  developed  the  entrances  to  this  gulf  north  and  west    of 

Ihe  student  in  Europe  who  curiously  watched  the  pro  Jess 
of  geo^aphical  development  beyond  the  sea  during  the     ^ 
sixteenth  century  naturally  followed  the   revelations  ''°'^■"^• 
n  the  successive  editions  of  the  Geographia  of  Ptolemy,  with 
he  new  maps  of  recent  progress  made  to  supplement  those 
long  familiar  as  pertaininK'  to  the  Old  World  ^ST"^"^  ^^'"'^ 
made  the  -map  for  the  EonL  PtoLi^'oS'-S  It^el t 
have  been  a  companion  of  Cabot  in^hese   northern 
voyages;   and  this  work  of  Johann   Euysoh  is     he  "-"^-3- 
earhest  engraved  map  which  wp  have  -hov  ^n-  il  7- 

— id.\e  onowiHg  the  new  discover- 


"^■■Bi  wii  .  mw  mm 


I 


i,      I 


8 


FROM  COLUMBUS   TO   CARTIER. 


168.  This  map  ,3  interesting  as  making  more  apparent  than  La 
Cosa,  seven  or  eight  years  before,  had  done,  that  these  new 
discoveries  might  have  been  in  part  along  the  coast  of  Asia, 
but  not  altogether  so.  There  is  no  sign  in  it  of  the  landlocked 
region  where  now  we  place  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and  in  this 
respect  It  IS  a  strong  disproof  of  the  alleged  voyage  of  Vespu- 
cms  m  1497;  but  it  may  give  the  beginning  of  a  continental 
area  which  was  soon  to  develop,  adjax^ent  to  the  West  Indies 
into  what  we  call  North  America.  But  at  the  north  Ruysch 
places  the  discoveries  of  the  English  and  Portuguese  unmistak- 


^0^.01 


oe 


C.v'fn 


MliMOas  wovus 

RUTSCH,  1508. 
[From  the  earlieat  engraved  Map  showing  the  discoveries  in  the  west,  in  the  Ptolen.y  of  1508 

(Rome).] 

ably  on  the  upper  Asiatic  coast ;  and  while  he  does  not  dissever 
Newfoundland  from  the  mainland,  he  goes  some  way  towards 
doing  it. 

So  we  may  say  that  in  1507,  one  working  in  Rome  with  the 


rent  than  La 
t  these  new 
ast  of  Asia, 
3  landlocked 
and  in  this 
e  of  Vespu- 
continental 
Vest  Indies, 
>rth  Ruysch 
e  unmistak- 


BASQUES  AND  NORMANS. 


9 


oe 


available  material  which  had  been  gathered  from  the  Atlantic 
seaports  had  not  yet  reached  a  conception  of  this  great  watery 
portal  of    a    continent    which   lies    back    of    Newfoundland 
That  there  could  not  have  been    knowledge  of  this  obscure 
gulf  in  some  of  the  seaports  of  northern  and  western  France 


C.v'fn 


'^-'Vv^-. 


ioleniy  of   1508 

t  dissever 
y  towards 

with  the 


J4. 


JEAN  DENTS  {alleged  Map),  150C. 
[Reduced  from  a  Tracing  furnished  from  the  Archives  at  Ottawa.] 


2/' 


'ol^ 


may  mdeed  admit  of  doubt;    and  perhaps  some  day  a  dated 
chart  may  reveal  the  fact.     We  need  not  confidently  trust  the 
professions   of   JMichel   and  other  advocates  of    the  « 
Basques,  and  believe  that  a  century  before  Cabot  their  -^Tor. 
hardy  fishermen   had  discovered  the  banks  of  New-  ""^ 
foundland,  and  had  even  penetrated  into  the  bays  and  inlets  of 


10 


FIWAf  COLUMBUS   TO   C ARTIER. 


\\ 


the  adjaoont  coas  s.  There  seems,  however,  little  doubt  that 
very  early  m  the  sixteenth  eentury  fishing  equi„ments  for  these 
regions  were  made  l.y  the  Normans,  as  Brdard  ^chronicles  m 
in  his  JJocuments  relaii/s  a  la  Normand. 

i^uiope  (I0O8),  1   IS  claimed  by  Desmarquets  and  other  Die,,- 
A«wt.        pese,  solicitous  for  the  credit  of  their  seaport,  that 

rpnno  W  T/  .'^    T^  '""''*  ^^^^'^^^^  ^"'"^Sues  up  the  St.  Law- 

leice  River      If  this  be  true,  the  great  northern  portal  was 
entered  then  for  the  first  time,  so  far  as  we  have  any  rlcord  ;  bu 
uch  pretensions    even  with  the   support  of   Ranuisio,  hardy 
rest  on  indisputable  documents.     We  learn  from  Charlevoix  1 
too  late  an  authority  to  be  assuring  -  that  Jean  Denys  had 

(I0O6)  but  the  evidence  to  prove  it  is  wanting.  This  ma„  is 
saul  to  have  been  formerly  preserved  in  the  Paris  Archies 
but  IS  not  found  there  or  elsewhere  at  this  day.  What  passes 
for  a  copy  of  it  treasured  at  Ottawa,  shows  names  of  1  '^l 
%  later  period  I  the  original  could  l,e  discovered,  it  might 
be  found,  possibly,  that  this  nomenclature  has  been  ;dded  by 
a  more  recent  hand.     There  does  not  seem  to  be  anything  in 

cW^v^dfnT^^^^^^^        ''^^'°"  '"^•^*^^^*  "^^^'^^  -*  ^-le" 
achieved  in  1506  by  an  active  navigator.     If  the  outlines  freed 

from  t^ie  names  are  genuine,  it  would  show  that  there  hi  I    lis 

early  been  explorations  to  the  west  of  Newfoundland    wS 

"GlXri    T'''^  f  ^™  -rprisingdeW^oitof  th 
Colfo  Quadrado,"  or  Square    Gulf,  which  appeared  on   the 

8..V..US,      mappemonde  of   Sylvanus  in  his  edition  of  Ptolemy 

A.i     ..     "'/^^^-     ^^"s  represents  in  mid-ocean  in  the  north 

t^l^^^"^  ""''}:  ^^■^^"^'^^"^^^  Newfoundl!nd;h    ' 
ever  w^th  a  landlocked  gulf  to  the  west  of  it,  shut  in  by  a 
coast  wiich  in  the  north  and  south  parts  bends    o  as  nearly  to 
ouch  the  island.     That  it  is  intended  for  Newfoundird  ai  d 
he  neighboring  parts  admits  of  no  question;  for  the  strange 
interior  coast  is  considered  to  be  the  region  of  the  Corte  eal 
li-ovenes,  smce  there  is  upon  it  a  Latinised  rendering  of  tl^ 
name,  lie.ahs  Damns.     Some  explorations  developinrsucl  a 
gulf,  whether  Denys's  or  those  of   others,  must  hL%  "eady 
taken  p  ace,  then,  before   1511.      There  is  some  evidenc^  in 
^avarrete's   documents  (iii.  42)  that  the  Spaniard,  Juan  de 


THE  SQUARE   GULF, 


11 


Agramonte,  had  been  engaged  in  1511  to  go  to  the  Newfound- 
land region ;  but  we  are  ignorant  of  the  sequel.  After  this 
(late,  for  a  acore  of  years  and  more,  this  landlocked  w^ter  of 
hylvanu  ab-  ,iutely  disappears  from  all  the  maps  which  have 
come  dow..  to  us,  — nothing  remaining  but  indications  of 
entrances  to  the  gulf  by  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle  and  by  the 
southern  passage.     It  is  noticeable  that  Gomara,  describing  this 


FAVO 


occiDEra 


Nrvs 


ZEPHYRVS 


SYLVANUS,  1511. 
[From  the  Ptolemy  of  1511  ] 

^Z^  ^."^  '''''  '''''-'  ^^  ''  '-  *^^  --  -^'  -  the 
Fiance  was  now  to  find  rival.yin  these  waters  in  the  renewed 

ing-station  m  Bvadore  Bay,  just  within  the  Straits  of   Belle 
Isle,  which  they  called  Brest.      This  was  early  in  the  centur 
but  Its  precise  date  is  difficult  to  determine.     Showin.  some  of 
the  activity  of  the  Portuguese,  we  have  a  chart  of  that'  J 

Z^t'  "     r*/"*  .^^°"  ^^^''  "^"«h  -^-ates  that  -^"" 
they  hau  looked  within  the  gulf  both  at  the  north  and  at  the 


12 


FROM  COLUMBUS    TO   C ARTIER. 


south,  but  not  far  enough  to  disrover  its  open  u.'l  ..xtensive 

channels.     If  we  are  to  believe  the  interpretation  whicli  some 

have  put  upon  a  voyage  ascribed  to  JoSm  Alvi^roz  Fagundcs  at 

this  tKTie,  the  Portuguese  had  attained  far  more  knowledge  of 

this  mn.     gulf  than  this  anonymous  chart  indicates.     Indeed 

a  map,  made  in  1503  by  Lazaro  Luiz,  ha.s  been  put  forward  aJ 

indicating  just  what  Fagundes  had  done ;  and  this  elearV  gives 

hiin  the  credit  of  unveiling  the  hydrogiajjliy  of  the  gulf,  so 

that  his  results  might  bo  considered  to  exceed  in  accuracy  those 

of  Cartierin  his  first  voya,  .     This  map  of  Luiz  makes  the 

shores  of  the  gulf  complete,  exeept  a  portion  of  the  inner  coast  of 

Newfoundland,  and  even  gives  the  St.  Lawrence  Kiver  for  a  long 

distance  from  its  mouth.    Being  made  forty  years  and  more  after 

fagundes,  the  draftsman  had  the  temptation  to  embody  later 

results  ;  and  the  map  naturally  starts  the  question  of  how  much 


LAZARO  LUIZ. 

[A  Sketcli  of  the  Map  in  Bettencourt's  Deseobrimentos  dos  Portuguezes  (Lisbon,  1881-82).] 

of  this  posterior  knowledge  was  embodied  in  it.  Since  Betten- 
court  in  his  Deseobrimentos  dos  Portuguezes  brought  forward 
this  map,  in  1881-82,  its  pretensions  in  this  respect  have  been 
studied,  and  often  questioned  ;  but  Dr.  Patterson,  a  recent  Nova 
Scotian  writer,  has  adv^'-ated  its  claims;  and  Harrisse  in  his 
last  book.  The  Discoverv  ■■>/  /y<,rth  America,  has  committed  him- 


THE  FAGUNDES   VOYAGE. 


13 


self  to  a  belief  in  the  Faguiules  explorutions.     The  luuiues- 
tioned  facts  are  these :  Ancient  documents  mention  the  voyage 
as  being  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  fishing-station.     The 
rortuguese  king  luul  also  promised  Fagund.'s  (iontrol  by  patent 
of   tiio  regions  which  in  this  tentative  vo;)age  he  should  dis- 
cover.    On  Fagundes's  return  he  rejjorted  what  he 
had  found;  and  in  accordance  with  his  report,  his  n",Srtf*"'' 
king.  March  13,  1521,  granted   to  him  these  lands,  '°" 
supposed  to  be  a  new  discovery.     This  patent  describes  them, 
presumably  in  accordance  with  Fagu  .des's  report ;    and  it  is 
this  descriptif'ii,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  Luiz  map,  which 
uiust  enable  \n  to  sny  where  Fagundes  had  been. 

The  laiK^uage  of  the  patent,  not  as  clear  as  we  might  wish, 
says  thai  the  coast  which  he  had  found  lay  north  of  those 
known  to  the  Spaniards  and  south  of  that  visited  by  Cortereal, 
which  woiUd  put  it  between  Newfoundland  and  perhaps  the 
Chesapeake,  or  possibly  a  region  a  litti*'  farther  north  than  the 
Chesapeake.  The  assigned  country  includes,  as  the  patent 
says,  the  Bay  of  Auguada,  wliich  contains  three  islands ;  a 
stretch  of  coast  where  are  other  islands,  which  Fagundes  had 
named  St.  John,  St.  Peter,  St.  Ann,  St.  Anthony,  and  an 
archipelago,  also  named  by  him  the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins  • 
an  island  "close  to  the  bank,"  wliich  he  called  Santa  Cruz,  and 
a  second  island  called  St.  Ann.  The  patent  closes  with  grant- 
mg  all  these  islands  and  lands  to  their  discoverer. 

On  a  coast   so  crowded  with  islands  and   bays   as   that  of 
Maine  and  New  Brunswick,  —  apparently  the  "  firm  land  "  of 
the  description, —  we  need  more  details  than  the  patent  gives 
us   to  determine  beyond  dispute   the   geographical   correspon- 
dences  of  these  names.     The  inscription  "Lavrador  q  descobrio 
Joaom  Alverez  [Fagundes]  "  is  on  the  Luiz  map,  placed  on  the 
peninsula  formed  by  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf  and  the  Atlantic. 
Ihis,  m  the  opinion  of  Harrisse,  requires  the  Baya  d'  Auguada 
which  I    lescribed  as  having  a  northeast  and  southwest  extend 
sion,  to  be  none  other  than  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf.    That  writer 
is  convinced  that  the  bay  was  named  the  Watering  Bay,  be- 
cause  Fagundes  must  have  gone  through  it  to  the  outlet  of  its 
great  river  to  fill  his  water-casks.      He   also  allows   that  the 
three  islands  of  this  bay  may  possibly  have  been  Prince  Ed- 
ward, Anticosti,  and  Orleans  ;  since  these  islands  in  the  Lui^ 


14 


FROM  COLUMBUS    TO   C ARTIER. 


map  are  aU  colored  yeUow,  like  a  Portuguese  escutcheon  placed 
on  the  map.     This,  however,  would  have  carried  Fagundes  up 
the  St.  Lavvi-ence  liiver  farther  than  Harrisse  is  inclined  to  be- 
Heve ;  and  he  would  rather  substitute  for  the  island  of  Orleans 
the  Magdalen  group  or  some  peninsula  of  the  gulf  mistaken  f.r 
an  island.     Harrisse  also  ajiplics   rather  neatly  what  may  be 
termed  the  "  liturgical "  test  in  respect  to  all  the  names  men- 
tioned in  the  patent ;  and  he  finds  tliat  the  corresponding  saints' 
days  in  the  Koman  calendar  run  from  June  21  to  October  21. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  in  the  summer  and 
autumn,  probably  in  1520,  when  these  names  were  applied,  in 
accordance  with  a  habit,  common  with  explorers  in  those  days, 
of  naming  landmarks  after  the  saint  on  whose  day  they  were 
discovered.     Another  proof  of  the  voyage,  also  worked  out  by 
the^  same  writer,  is  that  names  which  appear  on  no  map  ante- 
dating this  patent  are  later  found  for  this  coast  on  the  maps 
known  by  the  name  of  Maiollo  (1527),  Verrazano  (1529),  Vie- 
gas  (1534),  Harleyan  (1542),  Cabot  (1544),  Freire  (1546), 
and  Doscelliers  (1550). 

This  is  the  nature  of  the  evidence  which  makes  Harrisse  give 
Ripimdes's  ^  map,  tracking  the  progress  of  Fagundes  from  the 
_^''  ■  time  he  passed  near  the  islands  of    St.  Pierre  and 

Miquelon.  By  this  it  would  appear  that  he  coasted  north  the 
west  shore  of  Newfoundland,  and  at  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle 
turned  and  followed  the  Labrador  coast  well  within  the  St. 
Lawrence  Eiver,  and  then  retui-ning,  skirted  the  New  Bruns- 
wick coast,  that  of  Prince  E.^v.ard  Island,  Cape  Breton,  and 
Nova  Scotia  to  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  where  he 
bore  away  seaward,  and  returned  to  Portugal.  Few,  we  sus- 
pect, will  accept  this  route  of  Fagundes  as  proved.  Most  will 
be  content  to  acknowledge  the  fact  of  an  acquaintance  with  the 
gulf  and  its  neighboring  waters  rather  than  such  an  extent  of 
the  acquaintance. 

The  advocates  of  these  Portuguese  anticipations  of  Cartier 
point  to  the  melons  and  cucumbers  wliich  that  navigator  found 
among  the  natives  of  the  gulf  region  as  indicating  that  Euro- 
peans had  left  the  seeds  of  such  fruits  among  them.  They  also 
chink  that  Cartier 's  own  recitals  leave  the  impression  that  the 
Indians  of  the  St.  Lawrence  had  become  used  to  European 
contact  before  his  advent.     It  is  known,  however,  that  the  In- 


L 


THE    WESTERN  BARRIER.  15 

(lians  of  the  interior  had  long  been  used  to  resort  to  the  shores 
of  the  gulf  and  its  vicinity  during  the  summer  season  ;  and  it 
IS  not  unlikely  that  by  this  habit,  as  well  as  by  a  common  cus- 
tom of  intertribal  communication,  the  ways  of  Europeans  were 
not  unknown  in  the  interior. 


A  belief  in  a  comparatively  short  stretch  of  unknown  sea  sep- 


aiating  the  Azores  from  Cathay  had  been  no  small  inducement 
to  Columbus  to  make  his  hazardous  voyage.   Now  that 
the  and  to  the  west  had  proved  so  far  a  barrier  to  a  n^ntaTSl*;. 
tarther  westward  way,  it  was  in  turn  no  small  induce-  ""■ 
men    to  those  proinpted  to  pierce  this  barrier  to  believe  that 
the  land  which  confronted  them  was  even  .nv,.nwp..  tlnu  tl^ 


16 


FROM  COLUMBUS   TO   CARTIER. 


ocean  had  been  thought  to  be.  Balboa  had  proved  how  nar- 
row  the  land  was  at  Panama,  and  Cortes  had  shown  that  it 
was  not  wide  m  Mexico.     How  wide  was  it  farther  north  "> 

Columbus  had  suspected  that  South  America  was  of  conti- 
nental extent,  because  of  the  great  volume  of  water  which  the 
Orinoco  poured  into  the  Gulf  of  Paria.  Ships  when  out  of 
sight  of  land  had  filled  their  water-casks  from  the  w^ater  poured 
out  by  the  Amazon,  which  told  of  an  immense  inland  drainage. 
JNone  of  the  early  navigators  remarked  upon  anything  of  the 
kind  at  the  north.  The  flow  of  the  Mississippi  did  not  seem 
to  impress  them  as  indicating  an  enormous  valley  towards  its 
source.     The  early  maps  given  to  portraying  its  supposed  sys- 


ifola  utvht 

000 


ifola  pocf,o  CTjmxiK  /    r^<C 


COPPO,  1528. 
[After  Kretschmer.] 

tem  of  drainage  represent  it  as  very  scant.  On  the  eastern  sea- 
board  of  the  northern  continent  the  Alleghany  range  rendered 
It  impossible  for  any  river  to  have  a  verv  large  volume  of  water. 
It  was  only  when  one  got  as  far  north  as  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf, 
and  even  into  its  inner  reaches,  that  evidence  such  as  had  been 
indicative  on  the  coast  of  South  America  could  have  suogested 
a  vast  continental  area  at  the  north.  Therefore,  before  this 
revelation  was  made  in  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  it  is  not  strange 
that  there  were  current  views  against  the  continental  character 
of  the  region  lying  north  of  the  Mexican  gulf  and  west  of  the 
country  discovered  by  Cabot  and  the  Cortereals.     Some  would 


^ 


THE  SEA    OF  VERRAZANO. 


17 


believe  that  it  was  no  continent  at  all,  but  only  an  immense 
aieliiiielago,  filled  with  i)assages,  if  they  could  only  be  found. 
Coppo  had  mapped  it  in  this  way  in  1528.  Others  had  followed 
Oviedo  in  supposing  that  the  land  at  the  north,  at  one  place  at 
least,  was  as  narrow  as  it  was  at  Panama ;  for  this  historian,  in 
1526,  in  his  Sumario,  had  first  given  published  indication  of 
what  was  for  many  years  following  known  as  the  Sea  of  Verra- 
zano.     This  expanse  of  water  was  imagined  to  fill  the  space 


VERRAZANO. 
[A  part  of  Brevoort's  Fac-simile.] 

now  known  to  be  occupied  by  the  two  great  valleys  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  and  the  Great  Lakes  ;  while  its  easternmost 
waves  nearly  broke  through  the  land,  to  mingle  its  waters  with 
the  Atlantic  somewhere  along  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the  in-es- 
ent  United  States. 

The  supposition  of  this  mysterious  sea  arose  from  an  inter- 
pretation  of  Verrazano's  experiences  on  the  coast  in  verrazano 
15^4,  which  constitute  the  fit-r  c  decided  and  official  '''-'■       ' 


18 


FROM  COLUMBUS   TO   CARTIER. 


manifestation  of  French  npfiVif^r  ,*«  4.1 

"  .     /^ancis  1.  to  follow  up  this  voyage  of  Verrazann      Tl.. 

feeo^rapjiers ;  and  the  believers  in  it  founcl  if  n^f  ^-^^  u  / 
count  the  chances  good  of  reaching  it  >v  ^L  v  .  ^  ^^^^  *^ 
along  the  Atlantic  coast  ^        ^  "  "^"^  "'  ^^'^^^  P°^^^ 

There  have  been  two  maps  brought  into  prominence  of  late 
Mapsofth3   g.ars,   which  reflect  this  belief.     One  is  the  man  of 

Verrazano        Hiprnnnmrv    A^    AT"  map    01 

Of  X  P  ^f  r''^^^"^'  preserved  in   the  College 

rli-     • ,    ,  f         "''  """  Warent  date  of  1587.    The  Abl,P 

w  ill  d  a::7r ''  "^  r  '-'^ '.° "- ''''-  -•  ^''  -'  - 

y  naa  cJiangctl,  m  sport  or  m  mischief,  the  ficmre  o  i„.^  o 

wa   *ucr,v   1,  I""''"Tr  ■"■*"'•  '"'''P">""«  i»  the  library, 
to  tl,„.,e  of  the  Propaganda  map,  with  which  he  wj 


.sr 


This  navi- 
the  coast 
id  his  ex- 
he  French 
1  his  Me- 
T  Admiral 
the  inten- 
no.     Tlie 
I  himself 
lot  again 
I  Cartier, 
'n  of  this 
school  of 
fficult  to 
me  point 

3  of  late 
map  of 
College 
brother 

•t  shows 

terior  of 

apex  to 

arolina. 
cartog- 

obscure 

hood  of 

ven  his 

lap  has 

ansient 

g  been 
of  the 

it  been 

J  Abbe 
some- 

into  8. 

s  time 

ibrary, 

I  being 

le  was 


THE  SEA   OF   VERRAZANO. 


19 


familiar;  and  he  first  brought  the  Maggiolo  map  to  the  atten- 
tion of  students  in  1882. 

The  Sea  of  Verrazano  is  much  the  same  in  the  two  maps,  and 


'""'•^i-., 


>  a' 


•  }  -- 


6 


\ 


their  dehneations  of  this  oceanic  delusion  marked  for  a  good 
many  years  yet  to  come  a  prevailing  opinion  as  to  the  kind  of 
goal  the  searchers  for  a  western  pasBago  were  striving  to  reach. 


20 


FROM  COLUMBUS   TO   CARTIER. 


MICHAEL  LOK,  lu82. 


1^ 


J 


ASIATIC  EXTENSION  OF  AMERICA.  21 

The  same  sea  is  found  in  the  well-known  English  map  of  Mi- 
chael Lok,  published  by  Hakluyt  so  late  as  1582,— or  nearly 
forty  years  after  the  close  of  the  series  of  explorations  which 
Cartier  conducted. 

While  it  is  probable  that  such  supposed  conditions  as  this 
bea  of  Verrazano  supplied  were  a   considerable  incentive  to 
J^rancis  I.  to  renew  his  interest  in  explorations,  the  problem 
was  complicated  by  another  view  which  an  eminent  German 
geographer  had  espoused,  and  which  had  already  been  enjra-ino- 
attention  for  some  ten  years.     The  conditions  of  political  "and 
social  hfe  which  Cortes  had  found  in  Mexico  had  revived  the 
old  hope  that  Cathay  had  at  last  been  found;  and  the  reports 
of  the  conquerors  which  were  sent  to  Europe,  with  all  their 
exaggerations,  were  welcomed  as  far  more  nearly  conformino-  to 
the  descriptions  of  Marco  Polo  than  anything  which  had  b'een 
discovered  among  the  West  Indies  or  on  the  South  American 
coasts.     If  the  region,  then,  which  Cortes  had  subdued  was  in 
truth  Asia,  the  ocean  which  Magellan  had  crossed  made  an  in- 
dependent  continent  of  South  America  only;  while  the  north- 
ern  spaces,   mstead  of  being  an  archipelago  or  a  continental 
barrier:  must  be  simply  an  eastern  extension  of  Asia,  and  its 
coast  must  border  on  the  north  Atlantic. 

(iL^  tC^""  '^"  'Tf  ""  ^^'^'  geographical  treatise 
(16d3)  which  r.s  survived,  that  Schoner,  a  famous 

sphere  m  lo26 ;  but  it  has  not  probably  come  down  ""°■•^• 
to  us      Some  gores  which  were  discovered  a  few  years  ago  have 
been  held  by  Henry  Stevens  and  others  to  belong^to  this^globe 
but  they  delineate  North  America  as  a  distinct^ontinenf  iust 
as  It  was  delineated  in  other  globes  by  Schoner  of  an  earllr 
date  which  are  well  known.     It  is  denied,  however,  b^Vor  W 
luold,  that  these  gores  can  be  of  so  early  a  date  L  1528^"! 
he  places  tliem  more  than  twenty  years  later.      Harrisse  ha 
later  stil  examined  the  claim,  and  contends  that  the  gor     can 
not  possiUy  be  those  by  Sch5ner  of  this  date,  becauseTt  seem, 
apparent  from  his  treatise  that  the  globe  of  IsTmul  b. 

^  Z't.rr'''''  ''VV''-y  of  an^irex^n! 
sion   toi    .\oith   America.      If  this  was  so, -and   Harrisse's 

easons  are  not  without  effect,  -  this  theoi.;  of  an  A^X  ex 
tension  m  North  A,»av,-nn  ,•„  ^„..„„,i  .    c  ,  .J         \"  Asiatic  ex- 


tension in  North  America  is  trkced  to  Schoner  asTtstr: 


•iginatui-, 


22 


FROM  COLUMBVJ   TO  C ARTIER. 


so  far  a.  ,s  known  If  it  is  a  uuttter  of  contention  as  respects 
Schoner,  it  is  cei-tain  as  regards  a  little  figure  of  a  globerade 
by  Iranciscus  Monachus  in  1526,  .hich\nnustaka%  rqt 

te'S     ''"*•'  f  "^t  ^'^^'''''  ^'  ""  ^'^''  «f  Asia.     ^^lis  the- 
oiy  got  a  firm  advocate  in  Orontius  Finjeus  in  15S1 
who,  however,  so  far  departed  from  the  view  held  W  FrancJ  ' 
ei^  as  to  unite  South  America  to  the  northern  contine'^^irby    1  e" 

o  well   kt     '"T"  •     ^^'^  '^"""^  "'^^  "-Jo  P---"t  in 
so  well   known   a  treatise   as   the  ^^ovus  Orhis  of  Gryna^us 


FRANCISCUS  MONACHUS,  152G. 
[After  Sketch  in  Kretsclimer's  Atlas.'i 

Where  the  map  of  Orontius  appeared ;  and  at  intervals  throuoh 
that  centiiry  and  into  the  next,  other  expressions  of  this  view 
appeared  in  prominent  maps. 

If  Cartier  or  his  royal  master  had  entertained  the  expecta- 
tion that  his  expedition  might  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  north- 
ern Asia  when  It  started  for  the  gulf  back  of  Newfoundland,  it 
IS  altogether  probable  that  its  equipment  would  not  have  been 
undertaken  It  is  far  more  likely  that  the  faith  which  the  ear- 
lier expedition  of  Verrazano  had  developed  in  the  narrowness 
ot  the  northern  continent  prevailed  at  Paris  and  St.  Malo  when 
L^artier  started  on  his  fateful  voyage. 


as  respects 
globe  made 
cably  rejire- 
'^his  the- 
L'lis  in  1531, 
by  Fiancis- 
inent  by  the 
trait  to  the 
romincnt  in 
f  Gryiueiis, 


Is  through 
this  view 

e  expecta- 
:  of  iiorth- 
ndland,  it 
liave  been 
1  the  ear- 
irrowness 
alo  when 


CHAPTER  II. 

CARTIER,   ROBERVAL,    AND   ALLEFONSCE. 

1534-1542. 

The  story  of  the  personal  career  of  Cartier,  separate  from  his 
American  explorations,  is  not  an  extended  one.    Mod- 
ern  writers  have  in  the  main  gone  back  to  the  Me-  ^°"'""- 
mcnre  which  Charles  Cunat  prepared  for  a  general  biographical 
account  of  he  Breton  race.    Here  Hoefer  went  for  details  used 
m  his  great  dictionary,  and  D'Avezac  and  Ramd  for  what  they 
have  said  m  editing  the  documents  pertaining  to  Cartier's  ca- 
reer      Harrisse  in  his  CahoU  has  done  something  to  elucidate 
the  bibliography  of  the  subject;  but  the  most  important  criti- 
cal  examination  of  Cartier's  life  is  made  in  Franc^ois  Joiion 
des  Longraxs  s  Jacques  Cartier  (Paris,  1888).    The  researches 
of  t^is  writer  were  too  late  for  the  use  of  Dr.  De  Costa  in  the 
m,rm^ve   and   CrUical  History  of  America  (vol.  iv.),  but 
have  been  followed  by  three  recent  prize  essayists'on  the  theme 

(7lIZ\^T7''%'^^:^.  "^"'^^-^^^^  Hiram  B.  Stephens 

Longrais's  inquirieo  show  Cartier  to  have  been  an  older  man 
by  three  years  than  had  been  supposed,  or  a  man  of  forty-tree 
n    eajl  of  forty  when  he  sailed  from  St.  Malo,  Apnl  2of  1534 
.th  the  aim  of  raising  the  French  arms,  as  an  act  of  ^ossel: 
-on,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Square  Gulf   of   Sylva^^ 

t™;^:  r  tT'  """^"^  ''^' ''--''  ^^'^^"^"*-  ^'  ^^'  ^^^ 

the  t2Z         J^f'-  """'"'''  '''''  *^  ^"^^  ^*  J>^r««fter  within 
tlie  jurisdiction  of  their  common  monarch 

flfth!l  t  LTidiSS^^^^ "  ^^  ''""''''^'^  — 

nf  P,.o     •         1     ,  ^^^"^^^^^  Chabot,  eager  companion  '"'^'y  ^"eer. 
of  Iiancis,  and  sharing  his  ambition  and  confidence,  hit  upon 


24 


CARTIER,  ROBERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


Cartier  as  tho  instrument  to  i)lace  Franco  on  an  equality  with 
her  maritime  rivals.  Some  of  the  contemporary  records  call 
Cartier  a  corsair,  which  means  that  he  had  roved  tlie  seas  to 
despoil  the  enemies  of  France.  There  is  a  probability  tliat  he 
had  voya-ed  at  one  time  to  Brazil.  When  he  was  married,  in 
lolJ,  he  had  risen  high  enough  in  his  profession  to  be  called  a 
master  pilot. 

We  know  that  when  Cartier  shipped  his  crew,  a  voyage  of 
jm  voyage,    discovciy  had  fewer  attractions  than  the  better  |  ^ing 
•  occupations  of  fishing  and  trading  on  the  Newfound- 

land coasts.  They  preserve  at  St.  Malo  fco-day  a  list  of  those 
finally  brought  to  sign  the  ships'  papers,  which  were  made  out 
m  Cartier  s  own  hand.  He  superintended  the  equipment  of  his 
two  vessels  of  sixty  tons  each,  and  when  all  his  men  were  piped 
to  duty  they  numbered  sixty-one  souls. 

That  Cartier  was  bound  for  the  land  lying  beyond  the  New- 
foundland  banks,  and  for  the  water  which  that  island  inclosed, 
conveyed,  very  likely,  varying  notions  to  the  crews  of  the  fishing 
craft  then  afloat  in  this  Norman  harbor.     We  have  no  know- 
ledge  that  Cartier  started  with  any  charts ;  but  he  could  hardly 
have  been  denied  the  help  of  the  rough  sketches  of  the  coasts, 
which  many  a  fisherman,  habituated  to  the  region,*  could  have 
made  for  him.    If  such  charts  embodied  information  which  they 
had  shared  with  the  Portuguese,  whom  they  were  accustomed  to 
meet  on  those  fishing-grounds,  we  may  look  to  the  chart  of  Vie- 
gas  of  this  same  year  (1534),  which  has  come  down  to  us,  as 
indicating,  perhaps,  the  notions  then  prevalent  respectino-  this 
inner  sea  at  the  back  of  Newfoundland.     This  chart  certainly 
shows  but  an  inadequate  conception  of  its  great  expanse,  and 
makes  the  gulf  open  to  the  sea  at  the  south,  and  not  at  the 
north.     Cartier's  course  in  his  voyage  hardly  accords  with  such 
a  belief  on  his  part. 

It  was  a  rugged  port,  this  St.  Malo,  with  its  crowded  pe- 
st. Malo.  "insular  town,  jutting  out  to  form  a  harbor,  in  and  out 
of  which  thirty  or  forty  feet  of  water  rushed  with  the 
tide,  leaving  the  vessels  at  the  ebb  keeled  upon  the  ribbed  sand. 
The  place  had  a  reputation  for  hardy  seamen,  and  ,Tacques  Car- 
tier  was  then  its  boast,  and  has  been  ever  since.  When  his  ves- 
sels, that  April  day,  righted  with  the  flood  and  their  .jooms 
creaked  to  the  vigorous  pull  of  their  crews,  and  the  gazing 


NKWFOUNDLANJ). 


25 


idlers  along  tho  shore  waved  their  farewells  to  Sf  \Tal.' 
tnue  hero,  it  was  doon,ed  that  he  shonir "l  tl~ 

^.n.w  continent  to  an  aspiri.,  ..a  of  j;.itC;^^^ 


-S^ 


'"fff-r^r^ 


■Vhft^J 


O.v 


m 


C5. 


^       \  Jlre^<mui4f 


<^0  breitb 


GASPAR   VIEGAS. 
[After  a  Sketch  ta  Kours  DUcovery  of  Maine  ] 

the  gu.f  wi  ,  fc"!'""":';  °^*^  ^''"■"-  «*-»  to 


2)) 


CAHriEli,  IWBEltVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


opening  ()f  tho  Struits  of  Belle  Isle.   This  was  a  ief?ion  familiar 
to  the  Hshennen,  altliough  one  would  not  .suspect  it  from  the 
Viegas  chart,  and  in  the  harbors  of  the  Labrador  coast  within 
the  ijassago  their  shi])s  had  been  long  accustomed  to  find  ref- 
u<;o  in  bad  weather.     It  was  somewhere  here  that  Cartier  met 
a  ship  from  La  Koehelle.     He  saw  also  some  of  the  natives  of 
the  region.     Tho  country  seemed  to  him  to  be  forbidding,  so 
In  the  gulf.     '"^  tiii-ned  his  prows  south,  and  tracked  the  inner  coast 
of  Newfoundland  till  near  the  point  opposite  Cape 
Breton.     Cartier  was  thus  the  earliest  to  define  this  coast,  and 
if  the  explorations  of  Fagundes  are  allowed,  that  Portuguese 
navigator  seems  not  to  have  outlined  this  repellant  shore.  "Car- 
tier  now  steered  westerly  and,  passing  the  Magdalene  Islands, 
reached  the  shore  of  Prince  Edward  Island ;  whence,  heading 
July,  1534.     ""»:*''  ^^"ly  2),  he  made  tho  Bay  of  Chaleur,  a  name 
which  he  now  gave  to  that  inlet  in  recognition  of  the 
great  heat  which  he  experienced  (July  8).     Still  proceeding 
northwa*  a,  he  struck  the  coast  of  Anticosti  Island,  and,  rouncU 
ing  its  eastern  point,  followed  its  northern  shore  almost  to  its 
western  head.     Here  the  shii)s  turned  and,  skirting  backward 
the  dreary  sliores  of  Labrador,  finally  emerged  into  the  or-ean 
by  the  strait  which  had  led  them  in,  and  bore  away  for  France. 
There  are  landmarks   along  this   passage  through  the  gulf 
which  earlier  visitors  had  perhaps  named.    Othe-s  still  bear  the 
designations  which  Cartier  bestowed.     Ilis  own  account  and 
these  g(!ographioal  traces  make  pretty  clear  the  general  direction 
which  he  took ;  but  in  i)arts  the  record  is  obscure  as  to  details, 
and  there  is  much  difference  of  opinion  among  investigators, 
Hi8  track.      P''^i'ti«»Iiii'ly  as  to  his  track  across  the  gulf  fronT  New- 
foundland to  Prince  Edward  Island  and  the  mainland 
of  New  Brunswick.     Kohl,  De  Costa,  Gaiiong,  Bourinot,  and 
others  have  exercised  their  ingenuity  upon  the   ])roblem.     It 
seems  probable  that  familiarity  with  these  waters  and  a  close 
study  of  Cartier's  text  are  safer  for  an  inquiry  than  the  deduc- 
tions of  the  European  cartographers,  even  of  the  earlier  time. 
The  study,  however,  is  curious  rather  than  important. 

Just  where  the  coast  of  Gaspe  juts  to  sever  the  gulf  from  its 
great  affluent,  Cartier  erected  a  cross   and  took  possession  of    " 
the  country  for  his  king.     It  was  at  this  point  that  he  entrapped 
two  Indians,  who  were  to  serve  him  as  interpreters  during  his 


ill 


on  faniiliur 
t  from  the 
oast  within 
A)  find  ref. 
'lU'tier  met 
natives  of 
l)id(ling,  so 
inner  coast 
Dsite  Capo 
coast,  and 
.^rtugueso 
lore.    Car- 
le Islands, 
e,  heading 
ir,  a  name 
ion  of  the 
)roceedin<r 
nd,  round- 
lost  to  its 
backward 
the  of'ean 
>r  France. 
I  the  gulf 
1  bear  the 
!ount  and 
i  direction 
to  details, 
istigators, 
rom  New- 
mainland 
inot,  and 
bleni.     It 
d  a  close 
he  deduc- 
lier  time. 

F  from  its 
ession  of 
sntrapped 
uring  his 


CAKTIKIVS  FinST    VOYAGE.  27 

m>xt  voyage,  for  they  were  natives  of  a  re.r|on  hic^h  „„  fhn 
^t.  Lawrence,  who  had  come  down  for  the  ^^^2  I 
was  on  the  passage  from  this  point  to  Anticosti,''in  wldch  he 
struck  across  the  great  tide  rolling  from  the  St.  Lawrence  hal 
he  seems  to  have  been  unconscious  of  nussing  .he  portTl  In 
opene<l  two  thousan.l  miles  6f  waterwav  thro.,.?!.  I  ^-  V  •  I 
the  conriiienf      WK      i  '"''^,'v  tin ough  the  Ulterior  of 

Cartier  was  nearly  two  months  and  a  half  in  m.t:       *i  • 
circuit  of  the  gulf.     He  mssed  n„f  f  *      making  this 

ir        1        ,     .*'     ,      ^^^  I'iissetl  out  t    sea  on  August 
15,  and  early  m  Sentembpr  hn  vo;:..*-,,    i  i.i     i      ,  *         1'"'^ in st. 
Sf    ^UU       \\     "''Vf"^"*'*  '^«  reentered  the  harbor  of  «■";•.  s^p- 
^t.  Malo.      Jle  could  report  little  success  in  discov    '-^    ' 

foun.lat.ons  of  its  future  cartography      So  X  7       iv 

not  altogether  futilp   n,„l   i     "  7  ^'^   ^°  ^'^^  expedition  was 

left  -enndin.        'w       ''  '■'*"™'^^  ^"^^'^  ^«">«  enthusiasm 
ieic,      f  ujugli  at  least  to  t  u-ow  snirit  i"nfn  i,;^    t.  ^ 

».n.e  l,is  ..perio..  t„a.  the  Vro^r^eTl'ZtXl  '"""' 

Cixticr  himself      Tf  R„  <lepon,hng  on  a  recital  by 

his  companio,,,,  tL'^^.ich  efeltl  L  ,*%""""'  "■"»"""''  "^ 
similar  authentication  can  £,7^  hllrt  \Z  "'"'"  "" 
that  one  of  several  nKanuscrt,,!^f  .n""  '"  "'""""'• 

»'oryot  this  initial  vrZofCr'T'" ''"  "■'  °""- 
«are  mort  inel!ne<Uo  J«,e„,I  T  ""™™''^'  "P"  "'"<''' 
public  in  1867  a^  =f  tf'  •  >  "■'^  P'"™''  «'•"  ''<'''''<'  *« 
being  Car  icrl'o™  if  r  "  '??  ■■"""  '^'"^  ''  '''"»"■  '"  '" 
.any  other/  We  Jel'°""r  ""'""'  *™'""'  """«'  "--" 
baclc  to  the  narr!  ;•!  °    W  ''™'?"'Pr'^  '"'™"""  '"  'h"  "ain 

-  ..istinetly  .l^trt     t      r^lnt'l""  r  >  ""  ''^^  '' 
<.o.»i.s  „f  Cartier.  conrse  when  rdta'IS  Z^r 

■•ntH-eS  'rrii::' s:rr'r '-  .^'-  ^-'^ "» '■-«• 

and  tie  kiuK  had  been  r,'  ^^^^    ."  ^'"'■^-  '»  '^  "'''  ™y»ge, 
"g  Had  been  induced  to  sign  a  commission  at  the  end 


28 


CAUriER,  ROBERVAL,   AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


Voyage  of 
1535. 


of  October  (1534)  giving  Cartier  authority  to  make  further 
exi^lorations.  He  was  told  to  take  fifteen  months  for  the  trial. 
He  was  allowed  three  vessels,  the  "  Grande  Hermine," 
of  perhaps  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons,  which  car- 
ried his  flag;  the  "Petite  Hermine,"  of  sixty  tons,  under  Mace 
Jalobert ;  and  a  small  galley,  the  ''  Emerillon,"  of  foi  'y  tons, 
of  Nvhich  GuiUaume  le  Breton  Bastille  had  the  command. 

Cartier  mustered  for  this  cruise  a  company  of  one  hundred 
and  ten  persons,  of  whom  we  know  the  names  of  eighty-four. 
This  crew  was  not  altogether  a  worthy  one,  for  the  dangerous 
plan  of  impressing  criminals  had  been  followed.  It  is  a  little 
incongruous  with  such  a  following  to  find  the  commander  writ- 
ing to  his  sovereign  that  he  looked  upon  his  enterprise  as  one 
likely  to  open  new  fields  for  Christian  endeavor.  The  looker-on 
must  have  beheld  a  motley  crowd  when  Cartier  led  his  men 
to  church  on  Whit-Sunday  (May  16,  1536)  to  make  confession 
and  receive  the  benediction  of  the  bishop. 

Three  days  later  the  little  fleet  sailed.     The  season  was  bois- 
saiis,  May      tcrous,  and  they  had  not  made  land  when  the  vessels 
were  scattered  in  a  gale.     The  little  harbor  of  Blanc 
Sablon,  well  within  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle  on  the  Labrador 
side,  had  been  made  the  rendezvous.     Cartier  reached  it  first, 
late  in  July,  and  his  other  ships  were  not  long  L.  'lind. 
After  three  days  he  led  the  way  westward  along  the 
Labrador  coast,  and  ])asscd  into  the  channel  between  Antfcosti 
and  the  main.     Here  on  the  northern  shore  he  entered  a  liar- 
bor  and  named  it  the  Bay  of  St.  Lawrence,  —  the  fii'st  appear- 
ance of  a  name  (Sainct  Laurens)  in  this  region,  which  was  in 
time  to  be  extende.l  to  the  great  gulf  and  to  Ihe  river  which 
feeds  it.     On  August  14,  he  sailed  still  westward,  with  spouting 
August.         ■^^'J'^les  about  his  track.     He  seems  now  first  to  have 
comprehended  from  the  two  Indians  whom  he  had  kid- 
nap]}ed  during    the    previous  year,  and    who   had   picked   up 
enough  Frencli  to  be  communicative,  that  the  southern  shore  of 
this  channel  belonged  to  an  island  which  divided  the  gr^at  pas- 
sage to  the  interior.     Cartier  was  thus  enabled  to  mark  on  his 
chart  the  westernmost  end  of  this  island,  which  he  called  As- 
suini)tion  (August  15).     Passing  on,  he  founl  himself  at  last 
in  the  great  river,  with  hopes  brightening  at  the  prospect  of  its 
great  volume  of  water  proving  to  be  the  long-sought  passage  to 
the  Orient. 


July. 


ike  further 
)!•  the  trial. 
Hermine," 
which  ear- 
nder  Mace 
forty  tons, 
and. 

e  hundred 
ighty-four. 
dangerous 
t  is  a  little 
mder  writ- 
fise  as  one 
3  looker-on 
d  his  men 
confession 

I  was  bois- 
the  vessels 
I*  of  Blanc 

Labrador 
led  it  first, 
iigL.  'lind. 

along  the 
.  Anticosti 
fed  a  har- 
st  appear- 
ch  was  in 
iver  which 

I  spouting 
3t  to  have 
e  had  kid- 
licked   up 

II  shore  of 
groat  i)as- 
irk  on  his 
called  As- 
ilf  at  last 
[)ect  of  its 
)assage  to 


THE  ST.   LAWRENCE  lUVER. 


29 


As  he  passed  from  one  shore  to  the  other,  on  his  westward 
way,  Cartier  noted  distant  mountains  to  the  south,  and  saw  the 
two  btnks  of  the  river  gradually  drawing  together.     He  ques- 
tioned his  Indians,  and  learned  that  as  he  went  on  farther  the 
water  would  begin  to  freshen.     It  was  not  a  welcome  thought ; 
and  as  behind  him  there  was  a  stretch  of  the  northern  shore 
of  the  river,  which  he  had  missed  in  crossing  to  the  south,  he 
went    back  on  his  course  in  the  hope  that  he  had  thus  over- 
looked the  main  salt-water  passage.     His  quest  was  futile,  and 
by  the  24th  he  had  doubled  on  this  backward  track  and  was 
once  more  stemming  the  current  of  the  great  river. 
On  September  1,  he  was  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  ^'p''"''"- 
Saguenay.     He  met  here  some  natives  in  canoes,  who  were  em- 
boldened by  the  voices  of  Cartier's  Indians  to  come  alono-side 
and  parley.  " 

Cartier  left  the  Saguenay  without  exploring  it,  and  continued 
up  the  main  stream  to  the  Isle  aux  Coudres.  Here  he  remained 
some  days,  beguiled  with  the  sports  of  the  natives  as  they  caught 
the  white  whales.  A  religious  service  was  held  on  Sunday 
(September  7),  though  he  seems  to  have  had  no  priest  to  con- 
duct it.  Another  stretch  up  the  river  brought  him  to  a  con- 
ference with  Donnacona,  the  leading  chieftain  of  the  region, 
who  told  Cartier  that  he  dwelt  in  Stadacona,  a  place  still  higher 
up.  The  savage  received  the  strangers  with  words  which,  so 
far  as  the  Frenchmen  could  interpret  them,  were  beconiino-  and 
friendly.  " 

At  last  the  ships  reached  what  is  now  known  as  the  Island 
of  Orleans,  just  below  the  basin  of  Quebec.     Cartier  saw  vines 
icstooning  the  trees,  and  called  it  the  Island  of  Bacchus.     An- 
cliormg  his  vessels  here,  he  ])roceeded  in  boats  to  find  a  o-ood 
wnitermg  place,  and  discovered  a  si)ot  to  his  liking  just  up  the 
stream  which,  flowing  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  forms  the  head- 
land  of  Quebec,  —  the  modern  St.  Charles  River.     In  the  north- 
ern parts  of  the  modern  town,  outside  the  wails,  and  where  the 
streets  cover  the  lowlands  soTith  of  the  St.  Charles,  there  is  a 
pcnmsula  formed  by  a  loop  of  the  stream.     Opposite  the  liead 
ot  tins  curve,  north  of  the  St.  Charles,  lay  the  Indian  village 
ot   stadacona,   the   ho'rn    of    the   savage    chieftain. 
Adjacent  to  it  a  small  rivulet  came  from  the  north,   ^'"^''""''•' 
and  at  this  point  it  seemed  to  Cartier  that  his  ships  could  be 


30 


CARTIER,  ROBERVAL,   AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


mooi-ed  m  security,  and  easily  protected.     So  upon  September 
14  the  vessels  were  brought  from  below  and  warped  into  posi- 
tion.     It  is  the  general  belief   that   this   little  stream   is  the 
modern  Lairet,  and  as  the  result  of  an  agitation  beginning  as 
far  back  as  1835,  and  seeking  also  to  honor  the  memory  of^tlie 
Jesuits,  who  in  1625  built  their  abode  on  the  same  site,  there 
was  erected  a  monument  here  in  1889  to  commemorate  the  so- 
journ of  Cartier,  — not,  however,  without  some  protest  from 
such  as  believed  that  the  exact  spot  was  at  the  confluence  of 
the  St.  Michel,  a  little  farther  up  the  St.  Charles.     The  fact 
that  remains  of  a  vessel  were  found  in  1843  at  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Michel  has  been  held  by  the  advocates  of  that  spot  as 
showing  Cartier  to  have  abandoned   the  "Petite  Hermine " 
there,  presumably  near  his  fort ;  but  on   the  other  hand  it  is 
strenuously  denied  that  the  hulk  there  found  could  be  as  old 
as  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.     De  Caze  and  Di- 
onne,  two  of  the  later  Canadian  antiquaries,  have  taken  issue 
on  the  problem. 

Cartier's    two  native   interpreters,  finding   themselves  now 
among  friends,  communicated  to  Donnacona  the  intention  of 
Cartier  to  leave  his  vessels  at  this  spot  and  go  himself  higher 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  to  a  place  called  Hochelaga.     The  Indian 
chieftain  much  preferred  to  snatch  the  opportunity  of  barter 
for  the  Frenchmen's  trinkets,  instead  of  letting  it  fall  into  the 
hands  of  a  rival  at  Hochelaga,  —  or  at  least  such  an  interpre- 
tation  of  Donnacona's  discontent  at  Cartier's  proposal  seems 
the  most  reasonable.     The  savage's  opposition  to  Cartier's  pur- 
pose of  ascending  the  river,  not  a  little  urged  on  by  the  atti- 
tude  of  the  interpreters,  seemed  likely,  for  a  while,  to  embroil 
all  parties   in  a  hostile  outbreak.      Though  this  was  avoided 
and  a  sc  c  of  friendly  pact  was  formed,  Donnacona  resigned 
himself  to  the  thought  very  slowly,  and  not  till  after  he  had 
tried  ( lie  effect  of  artifice  to  enforce  his  powers  of  persuasion. 
He  made  some  of  his  people  dress  and  caper  like  devils,  as  if 
they  were  messengers  sent  from  Cudragmy,  the  local  deity  of 
Hochelaga,  to  persuade  the  French  not  to  venture  on  the  hazard 
of  the  trip. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  Cartier  in  the  town  hall  of  St.  Malo 
which  the  townspeople  cherish.      It  has  often  been  engraved, 


ilil 


-■%. 


CARTIER'S  SECOND    VOYAGE.  31 

and  the  fearless  leader  has  been  confidently  seen  in  it  Park 
man  who  saw  it  in  1881,  found  it  reeent  in  origin  ancl  a  quos-' 
tionable  likeness.  It  looks,  however,  like  a  nutn  of  couraoe 
who,n  It  would  take  much  to  intimidate,  and  he  stands  in  eon^ 
teuiplation,  as  if  he  nught  have  been  eaught  at  this  moment 
as  h,s  n,md  strengthened  with  a  determination  to  ascend  the 
river  in  spite  of  obstacles. 

So  leaving  the  body  of  his  followers  in  good  plight  to  resist 
aUaek,  Cartier  took  the  ''  EmeriUon  "  and  two  heath's,  with  fi?; 
men  for  an  escort,  and  on  September  19  pulled  ou  ,  .  ,  ^ 
mto  the  St.  Lawrence  and  began  to  breast  the  current  'S,^" 
Something  of  the  autumnal  joy  conspicuous  in  the  foliage 
buoyed  the  spirits  of  the  adventurers,  and  they  went  on  s  fc! 
cessfully  On  the  28th,  they  reached  a  place  where  the  river 
expanded  into  a  lake,  and  in  recognition  of  his   soverelihe 

ot  ±iancis  I.  As  the  river  narrowed  again,  the  currents  be- 
came too  strong  to  force  the  "  Emerillon  '^against  them  ;  so  she 
was  left  behind,  while  Cartier  and  a  body  of  picked  men  went 

TpL Tf  T;  ,  ""']  ^^*^'?  ^'  ^^^  '^-^'  ^-  ^-ts  up  b^i^' 
a  pie  e  of  level    and,  out  of  the  current  here  knovvi  as  St. 
Mary  s,  and  found  that  he  was  about  three  miles  be-  ,  . , 
lew  Ilochelaga.     The  news  of  his  coming  soon  spread    hoIX. 
and  the  natives  in  large  numbers  gathered  on  the  shore,  offer- 
ing food  and  manifesting  deli-ht  ' 

tail  of  t  venty  men,  Cartier  went  the  next  day  to  the  Indian 
town,  and  was  graciously  received  by  the  chieftain  of  these  s^v 
a,,  hordes      The  intruders  found  the  settlement  situ  'eTnrr 

C  ai  tiei  and  his  companions  were  led  to  a  gate  in  a  circular  r,al- 

Id  "  "^n    ^''Tf ''^  ''''''''''  *^-^  ^--^  -  the  inn  r 

m  d  tie    of    r"     r'  ""i"^"^  ^°"^^^  ^^  ^'"^'^^^^  ^t  assailants, 
and  piles  of  stones  lay  ready  for  use.     There  is  a  bird's-eve 

^li^C^'"''^^'^-     ''  "^^*^-  — P-^«  very  ex! 
In  teK.  '  ^description,  nor  is  it  wholly  comprehensible 

people  and  lowf  l"^''^^  T'''^  ^''"  ^^'''  ^^^'-^^I^^^""  f«""'l 

land    Who  7  f  '''"*'T'  ^"'^  ''''''^''''  '•'''  Vosse^sing  the 

land.   Who  the  people  were  that  Cartier  met  is  a  question  upon 


32 


C ARTIER,   ROBERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


KAMUtiiU'd  HOCHELAUA, 


E. 


\'L 


A^ 


' '.  I 


AT  MONTREAL. 


33 


which  there  has  been  some  tUfference  of  oiiinion.  The  decision 
rests  mainly  upon  the  ethnic  relations  of  the  scant  vocabulary 
which  Cartier  picked  up  and  recorded.  Dawson  has  held  that 
the  words  in  Cartier's  list  have  Algonquin  roots.  The  Abbe 
Fadlon  holds  them  to  be  Huron,  and  the  weight  of  opinion 
seems  to  sustain  the  abbe.  The  Hurons  had  given  place  to 
Algonquins  in  the  time  of  Champlain,  as  we  shall  later  see. 

When  Cartier  was  conducted  within  the  gate  of  this  Huron 
village,  he  found  a  public  square,  round  which  the  huts  of  its 
mhabitants  were  grouped.     In  this  space  he  was  welcomed  by 
men,  women,  and  children,  with  signs  of  emotion  and  confidence, 
liie  white  strangers  were  evidently  looked  upon  as  superior  be- 
nigs,  capable  of  healing  by  the  hand,  for  the  palsied  were  brought 
to  be  touched.    The  chieftain  of  the  savages  was  borne  into  the 
throng  upon  the  shoulders  of  men,  and  lie  offered  a  shrunken 
hmb   to  be    stroked.     In    recognition   of   the   potency  of   the 
Frenchman's  charm,  the  Indian  lifted  his  wreath  of  authority 
fi'om  his  own  head  and  placed  it  upon  the  brow  of  his  visitor 
Cartier,  in  fulfillment  of   the  missionary  spirit  which  he  had 
avowed  to  the  French  king,  began  to  repeat  the  Gospel  of  St 
John      Then  making  the  sign  of  a  cross,  he  uttered  a  prayer, 
and  afterwards  read  the  Passion  of  Christ.     It  was  mere  necro- 
mancy to  the  astonished  savages.     There  was  something  they 
could  better  understand  when  the  French  leader  caused  a  dis- 
tribution of  tnnkets.     Hatchets  and  knives  were  passed  out  to 
the  dusky  applicants  amid  a  fiourish  of  trumpets.     In  view  of 
the  forebodings  of  Donnacona,  it  was  not  the  most  prudent  of 
actions  to  distribute  such  dangerous  largesses. 

Cartier's  eyes  must  all  the  while  have  wandered  away  to  the 
conspicuous  lookout  which  the  neighboring  eminence  afforded 
He  teLs  us  of  its  impasing  character,  when  lie  says  that  he  gave 
1  the  name  of  Mont  Koyale.  The  capital  town,  which  the  trav- 
eler finds  to-day  on  the  site  of  Hochelaga,  is  a  reminder  of  the 
first  European  who  surveyed  the  site  of  Montreal.  As  Cartier 
gazed  from  the  suminit  of  this  hill, -for  his  new-found  friends 
soon  conducted  him  thither,  _  he  scanned  the  hazy  distance,  in 

ht  LT     T  r.  '"^  *'^  ^''  ^^™^^^  '^^  -  tl-  other 
L?  IT.   T    *'^^'"-^^l^««'  ^"'l  ^ve  can  well  imagine  that  he 
asked.     Which  way  must  I  go  to  seek  Cathay  ?  " 

Ihere  needed  an  earlier  start  in  the  season  than  was  possible 


84  CARTIER,  liOBERVAL,  AAD  ALLEFONSCE. 

now,  to  solve  this  pregnant  question.  October,  with  its  short 
ortober,  (lays,  was  ah-eady  advancing,  and  it  n-as  not  ])ni(U'nt 
to  tarry  longer  with  his  new-found  friends.  There  was 
provision  yet  to  make  for  tho  winter  in  Stadacona.  So  ex- 
changing courtesies  with  the  savages,  he  pushed  off  liis  boats 


rj 

O 

a 

CO 

H 

O 

4 

« 

A^i 

» 

4mt 

**; 

^•H 

O 

02 

K 

t^ 

and  started  down  the  river  with  the  current.  He  reached  his 
^^r,,.  galley  on  October  4,  and  on  the  11th  he  was  once 
nnfl,  Q.Tr  ;"*^,«^^''e  ^^«  Sainte  Croix,  as  his  station 
on  the  St.  Charles  had  already  been  named.     During  his  three 


its  short 

t  j)ni(k'nt 

Hiere  was 

So  ex- 

liis  boats 


o 

X 

03 

H 
O 

« 

-f, 
o 


WINTER   OF  15.35-3G. 


35 


H 


> 

^ 
^ 


Ji 


ed  his 
s  once 
station 
>  three 


weeks'  absence,  his  men  had  worked  to  some  advantage.     They 
liad  completed  a  fort  and  had  mounted  some  guns,  and  other 
preiKaration  had  been  made  for  the  winter;  but  his  peace  with 
Donnacona  iiad  still  to  be  strengthened.     He  cultivated   the 
friendship  of  the  savages  by  going  freely  from  one  native  hut 
to  another.     In  this  he  did  not  fail  to  see  that  they  sometimes 
overcame  their  enemies,  for  they  had  a  habit  of  decoratino-  their 
walls  with  scalps.     He  found,  too,  they  had  provident  habits, 
ior  winter  was  not  at  hand  without  their  having  laid  in  stores 
of  sni,plies.     He  fancied,  too,  they  were  docile  enough  to  re- 
ceiye  Cliristian  teaching,  and  he  was  sorry  he  had  not  a  priest 
with  him  to  administer  the  rites  of  the  Church.     He  told  them 
that  he  would  come  again,  and  bring  with  him  holy  men,  who 
could  render  them  such  service. 

The  winter  had  hardly  come  on  in  its  severity  before  a  pes- 
tilence  like  scurvy  broke  out  among  the  natives.     It 
soon  spread  to  the  French  fort.     At  one  time  there  ^'"'"'''' 
were  but  ten  sound  Frenchmen  to  minister  to  the  sick    and 
twenty-five  of  the  company  died.     They  tried  to  appease  what 
they  thought  an  offended  Deity  by  erecting  crosses.    Weak  and 
well  alike  prostrated  themselves  in  the  snow  before  these  holy 
symbols.     They  sought  content   for  the  mind   in   penitential 
hyinns,  and  they  supported  each  other  with  mutual  vows. 

All  this,  however,  seemed  to  less  purpose -if  we  may  believe 
heir  own  accounts  -  than  a  concoction  of  which  they  drank 
freely  after  the  habit  of  the  natives.  It  was  probably  made 
fiom  the  bark  of  the  white  pine  {amcday  "  If  all  the  physi- 
Clans  of  Montpe her  and  Louvain  had  administered  all  the  drugs 
of  Alexandria,  the  effect  would  not  have  been  so  good  in  a  year 
as  the  draught^s  of  ameda  caused  in  six  days."  So  runs  their 
record,  — and  it  is  very  likely. 

o.t^  *''\'lf  "S-  ^'-^^je  «»'  this  little  company  of  Frenchmen  re- 
co  x^red  Its  tone.     On  May  3  they  set  up  a  new  cross,   ,,, 
vith  more  jubilation  than  before,  and  put  upon  it  a  ^^■ 
legend  that  noted  formal  possession   of   the  country  for  the 

Kex  regnat.     The  first  act  of  sovereignty  exercised  by  the 
representative  of  that  absent  monarch  wi  to  lure  the  ,   ' 
local  chieftain   inte  a  snare,  and  to  carry  him  and  -=^°""^ 
other  savages  on  board  the  ships.     The  act  was  resented  by 


I 


36 


CAIiriEIi,  ROBERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


Donnacona's  people,  and  they  offered  ransoms.  The  majesty 
of  i  ranee  could  not  condescend  to  bargain,  and  the  sava-es 
wei-e  put  off  with  a  promise  of  having  their  ehieftaui  restored 
to  tliem  the  next  year. 

The  French  had  received  special  kindnesse.  from  the  peoi)Ie 
of  a  neighbormg  village,  and  in  their  weakened  condition,  find- 
ing It  necessary  for  want  of  a  crew  to  abandon  one  of  their  ves- 
sels, they  gave  the  Petite  »  Hermine  "  to  this  people,  in  order 
that  they  might  profit  by  the  metal  spikes  in  the  hulk.  If  the 
vessel  which  was  found  in  1843 -as  alreadv  stated -had 
shown  that  the  fastenings  had  been  removed  from  her  timbers, 
there  would  be  more  ground  for  supposing  it  a  relic  of  Cartier's 
neet. 

On  the  Gth  the  French  floated  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  set 
May,  1530.     ^'"^^  ^^"^  ^^^^^^'  dowuvvard  voyage.     After  a  while  they 
Rej_urn  voy-  auchored,  just  out  of  the  current,  when  the  savages' 
canoes,  which  were  following,  came  up.     The   poor 
creatures  had  not  yet  got  over  clamoring  for  Donnacona.     Car- 
tier  now  put  the  chieftain  forward  to  tell  his  people  that  he  was 
content,  and  would  return  in  a  year.     Meanwhile  the  French- 
men tossed  into  the  hovering  canoes  some  hatchets  in  return  for 
beaver  and  wampum.     The  savages  were  satisfied  enough  with 
the  exchange  to  forget  their  grievance,  and  Ca,  'der  tried  to  get 
away  while  they  continued  in  so  happy  a  mind.     The  wind, 
however,  did  not  serve  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  linger  till 
the  JUth      When  once  started,  he  found  no  obstacle  till  he 
reached  the  gulf.     Plere  he  buffeted  awhile  with  adverse  gales, 
and  finally  found  a  haven  at  the  little  island  of  St.  Pierre.     At 
the  anchorage  he  found  many  ships  from  France  and  Britain, 
as  he  says,  and  may  have  learned  more  than  he  knew  before  of 
July.  *'^«  southerly  outlet  of  the  gulf,  for  he  shortly  after 

passed  to  sea  by  rounding  Cape  Race.     Early  in  July 
he  was  once  more  gliding  with  the  flood  into  the  basin  of  St 
Malo. 

Cartier  was  at  once  ordered  by  the  king  to  make  a  written 
The.^r./  account  of  the  voyage,  and  it  has  come  down  to  us, 
•  ^  and  is  usually  cited,  as  the  Bref  Mecit.  It  has  been 
surmised,  as  four  years  elapsed  before  a  new  expedition  was 
sent  out,  that  the  report  which  Cartier  now  made  was  not,  on 
the  whole,  encouraging.     He  had  not,  indeed,  discovered  any 


ROBERVAL. 


87 


mines,  as  had  been  hoped ;  but  a  copper  knife  which  lie  had 
obtained  froin  an  Indian  might  indicate  that  his  futile  quest 
was  rather  unfortunate  than  decisive.    This  implement  was  said 
to  come  from  tlie  baguenay  region.     And  where  was  « 
this  region?     Dr.  Shea  thiaks  it  evident  that  it  did  ^^^ 
not  mean  the  banks  of  the  Saguenay  Eiver,  but  a  country  l>e- 
yond,  to  which  that  river  opened  the  way.     The  Sa-aienav  had 
not  yet  been  explored,  and  there  was  a  chance  of  n^ines  bdn 
found   in  that  dn.ction.     There  might  indeed   be  rev  latk^s 
n  reserve  along  those  valleys  up  which  Cartier  had  looke     so 
ong.„gly  f,o,n  Mont  Royale.   Then  the  natives  had  also  sr  oke„ 

was  mildei.     This  was,  perhaps,  a  monition  of  the  Lak-^  Cham 

waTveTtb'e  f  ^'  ^"V"^  *^  ""^^"^^  ^'^^  ^  waterpass^g: 
was  yet  to  be  discovered,  running  south,  which  might  lead  to 

Florida,  -a  region,  it  must  be  remembered,  broader  than  the 

As  we  read  the  Bref  mdt.  we  feel  that  Cartier  at  least  was 
i-ather  cheerful  over  future  prospects;  but  the  person  n      LZ 
to  be  impressed  with  hope  was  Francis  I.     This  monarch  vv.^ 
embarrassed  in   making  any  prompt  decision  l^ytirwasi 
which  he  was  involved.     He  had  listened,  howe/er,  to  Ca    ier 
th"  ott    ki7"**^i  ''^^^""^*'  ^'-^^  *'^^^-^  -*^^  ^-"--"a  aid 

To  emphasize  his  claim  to  the  country  in  a  way  to  impress 

a  S  m    s  •    '  '"  T''Z'  "'"^  ''^'''''^  ^^^  ^"-^  representative 
a  l^icaid  seio-neur,  Jean  Francois  de  la  Roque  better 

known  as  Roberval,  from  his  i<.i'^^^<.      R  ?"'"■""'• 

,1  „  '  ^*oiu  nis  estates.     He  was  a  cren-  ^'^eroy. 

tleman  of  some  consideration  in  his  province,  -  a  sort  of  petty 

cWnati::  71  '^"r  ^^^^^^^^^-^--  ^--s  as  the  spS 
ae     lation  of  him,  often  on  the  royal  lips.     It  was  at  „ 

Fontainebleau,  January  15, 1540,  that  the  king  sio-ned  "-~'" 

^weTTT'T'  ^t"'^"  ^'"  ^"^J^^*  ^-^^  f--^^  "f^n  viceo-eral 
powers,  while  he  i,laced  at  the  same  time  at  his  lieu- 

tenant  s  disposal,  the  sum  of  45,000  livres      On  Feb    ^'''"■"^' 

niary  G,  Roberval  took  the  oath  before  Cardinal  de  Tournon. 


38 


CAltTIKn,  ROHERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCK. 


ii: 


til 


aid  on  the  next  day  lie  was  ooinmanded  to  follow  the  luckless 
hai.it  of  searching  the  jails  for  recruits.  There  is  no  certainty 
that  through  all  these  preliminaries  the  king  had  determined  to 
have  Cartier  as  the  active  spirit  of  the  expedition,  and  it  may 
rather  have  been  an  after-thought,  when  he  found  the  Picardy 
gentleman  not  pushing  the  enteri.rise  to  suit  his  royal  (dishes. 
"^*"*"""c«r.  ^'  '^^^  events,  on  October  17,  Henry  the  Dauphin 
*eueraH"'  ^^P^^^  ^^^'^  P^^^^'  "i^kiiig  Carticr  captain-general  and 
pilot  of  the  fleet.  It  was  now  sure  that  some  spirit 
would  be  given  to  the  undertaking. 

The  outfit  of    the  fleet  was  more  imposing  than  anything 
France  had  before  arranged,  and  accordingly  it  excited  the  sus"- 
picion  of  Spain.      While  the  rivals  of  the  Spanish  monarch 
were  merely  hovering  about  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland,  Spain 
was  not  prepared  to  say  that  her  rights  under  the  bull  of  de- 
marcation had  been  infringed,  for  ic  had  long  been  allowed  that 
the  northern  regions  which  the  Cortereals  had  visited,  as  well 
as  the  eastern  limits  of  Brazil,  were  exterior  to  theSiianish  ap- 
portionment.    But  here  was  something  that  looked  like  a  rival 
claim  west  of  Pope  Alexander's  line   of   partition.     How  far 
the  public  or  the  emissaries  of  Spain  had  learned  of  wJ  -t  Car- 
tier  had  accomplished  on  his  .  ocond  voyage  does  not  appear,— 
certain  it  is  that  some  years  were  to  pass  before  any  publication 
was  made  concerning  the  voyage,  for  the  Bref  lUcit  was  still 
in  manuscript.     Further,  if  a  type  of  all  the  maps  issued  before 
1541  has  come  down  to  us,  it  is  equally  certain  that  there  liau 
been  no  cartographical  recognition  of  it  up  to  this  time.     The 
generalimpression  was  that  the  Baccalaos~as  Newfoundland 
and  the  neighboring  lands  were  usually  called  —  was  a  sterile 
region,  out  of  which  little  could  come  in  compensation  for  any 
considerable  outlay.     So  the  Spanish  ^.mbnssador  in  Paris  re- 
ported to  his  master  that  it  was  best  to  let  the  French  kino- 
spend  his  money.     The  Spaniards  seem  at  any  rate  to  have 
exaggerated  the  preparations  which  Roberval  was     .akin-  for 
they  imagined  that  thirteen  ships  were  fitting  for  the  voyao-e 
while  m  fact  Cartier  had  been  instructed  to  prepare  five  on!y' 
and  among  them  we  find  the  familiar  "Grande  Hermine  "  and 
the  "  Eme-:ilon." 

April,  1541.        ^*^^^  *l^e   king's  wish  that  the   fleet  should   be 
at  sea  by  AprU  15,  1541 ;  but  when  the  time  came 


lie  luckless 
o  certainty 
ennined  to 
mil  it  may 
lie  Picardy 
yal  <frishe.s. 
e  Dauphin 
ineral  and 
iiome  spirit 


AWAITING  IIOBEIIVAL. 


39 


I  anything 
Bd  the  sus- 
1  monarch 
uid,  Sjiain 
ull  of  de- 
lowed  that 
h1,  as  well 
[lanisli  ap- 
ke  a  rival 

How  far 
w.  -^t  Car- 
ijipear,  — 
ublication 
t  was  still 
led  before 
bhere  hau 
me.  The 
"oundland 
i  a  sterile 
n  for  any 

Paris  re- 
nch  kinjr 
I  to  have 
iking,  for 
'  voyage, 
ive  only, 
ine  "  and 


Kol  orval  was  far  from  ready.     It  was  therefore  <locided  that  a 
part  of  the  expedition  should  go  ahead,  and  on  May  28  Car. 
tier  hoisted  siul  on  three  ships.    He  soon  ran  into  foul 
weather     during   which   his   vessels   were    separated.   ''"^• 
They  all  hiter  rendezvoused  at  Carpunt  on  the  Newfoundland 
coast       Here  they  waited  six  weeks  for   Koberval,    and   had 
abundant  leisure  to  repair  damages.     But  the  viceroy  came  not 
A\  eary  of  the  delay,  Cartier  again  put  to  sea,  and 
entering    he  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  pushed  across  it  ^^1^ 
and  up  tJie  great  river.     It  was  August  23  when  he  ^"'''*""'"- 
reached  his  old  camp  at  Stadacona. 

The  expectant  natives  at  once  asked  for  Donnacona  and  his 
fellows,  only  to  be  told  that  the  chieftain  had  died  a  Chr 
t-an,  and  that  the  others  had  married  and  were  now  great  ioz^ 
There  is  evidence  that  three  at  least  of  these  Indian!  had  been 
baptized  at  b t.  Malo  in  1538,  and  that  all,  excepting  one  g   1 
1  ad  died.     The  bo  d   deceit  appeased  the  native  anxiety  and 
Agona    who   had   in   the   interval  worn  Donnacona's  wrUth 
felt  quite  content  with  a  new  lease  of  power      In  fLf  T 
somewhat  effusive  in  his  joy,  and  did  '^^^^1:^:^:1'^^ 
share  in  his  festive  delight.  <-aitier 

For  some  reason  Cartier  felt  it  best  to  leave  his  old  harbor 
of  Samte  Croix  and  to  proceed  four  leagues  higher  up  the  St 
Lawrence  to  a  position  near  the  modern  Cap  Rouc^e 
Here  he  began  a  fort  which  he  called  Charlesbourg]  m^^-"'^^' 

Septembei-  2  he  dispatched  two  of  his  ships  to  carry  '''''"°"«" 
word  to  France  of  what  he  had  done  and  of  Roberval's  non 

oy  ins  biothei-;n-law,  Jalobert,  the  other  by  his  n-phew  Noel 

chat  f:  Chl/t  ^*-*^^^— '^^^  C-^er  left^Spr^^^^^ 
charoe  .t  Charlesbourg,  and  proceeded  up  the  river.     He  had 
a  conference  with  a  petty  chieftain  at  Hochelay,  a 
spot  apparently  near  the  Richelieu  Rapids.    He  be    ''"'""'"• 
s  owed  upon  this  savage  a  red  cdoak  with  bright  trimminc^s 

dS;:  r?;- '^^ ^y^^r"^^^^ '-  LmedXri^ 

i    to  feth     s^^^^^^^       ^1  "?'"'^'  "^^'  ^^"^  ^«"«  *«  Stadacona  as 
Irtof         1  .Tf  ^^^^  '^'''S:n.     So  without  tarrying  lono-  Car- 

r    triTt"'^"^^^^^^^    "^'^^^^  m-eparatio'ns  for  th    vh  - 
ter.     Peihaps  the  situation  of  his  new  fort  was  not  favorable  for 


40  CARTIER,  RORERVAL,  AND  ALLEFOXSCE. 

intercourse  with  the  nativos,  or  the  savages  may  have  kei^t  pur- 
winter,  posely  aloof ;  at  all  events,  he  saw  little  of  fhoni  du;- 
'"'•''^-  ing  the  winter.  His  men  had  found  some  supposed 
diamonds  and  flakes  of  what  ho  thought  gohl,  —  evidently  de- 
ceived by  a  mock  metal  as  the  pioneers  of  Virginia  later  were, 
—  and  with  such  promises  of  wealth  ho  was  ready  in  the  spring 
to  abandon  the  fort  and  sail  for  France.  Whether  ho  encoun- 
tered Koberval  on  the  w.ay  is  a  question  which  we  may  pres- 
ently consider,  as  wo  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  viceroy. 

We  left  this  royal  representative  prepar-'ng  to  follow  Cartier 
BoborvM.      ^^'*^'  *^*^  ^®'^*  «f  tl»«  fltjet.     It  is  to  be  acknowledged 
at  the  outset  that  the  itineraries  of  Koberval  and  Car- 
tior  during  the  progress  of  this  divided  expedition  are  difficult 
to  reconcile  one  with  another.     Some  writers  have  contended 
that  the  viceroy  made  but  a  single  voyage  to  the  gulf,  and  then 
failed  to  go  up  the  river  to  join  Cartier,  but  wintered  some- 
where  on  the  gulf  shores.     Others  contend  that  he  made  a  brief 
preliminary  voyage  and  then  returned  to  France,  only  to  start 
the  next  spring  on  his  chief  explorations.     The  truth  can  hardly 
be   determined   beyond   dispute;  nor  can  it  be   satisfactorily 
established  whether  the  viceroy  and  his  master  pilot  met  at 
all  in  American  waters,  so  as  to  be  for  any  period  tog«!ther  in 
these  wild  regions.     Wo  have  distinct  statements  that  Koberval 
sailed  from    Honfleur,  August  22,  1541,  and  again  from  La 
Rochelle,  April  IG,  1542.     Whether  this  was  one  embarkation 
with  a  confusion  of  dates,  as  has  been  often  believed,  or  two 
distinct  ones,  is  a  subject  of   controversy.     If  the  voyage  of 
1541  was  a  preliminary  one,  Koberval  could  hardly  have'gone 
beyond  the  gulf  so  as  to  add  anything  to  geographical  know- 
ledge.    He  would  have  returned  to  France  by  the  year's  end. 

Meanwhile  Jalobert  and  Noel,  as  already  stated,  had  been 
sent  home  by  Cartier  with  dispatches  to  the  king,  and  their 
dispatches  may  have  given  new  encouragement,  so  that  Kober- 
val  was  —  on  the  supposition  of  two  voyages  —  again  at  sea  on 
April  16,  1542.  This  time  it  seems  certain  —  whether  it  be 
the  true  date  of  a  single  voyage,  or  the  date  of  a  sec- 
ond one  — that  Koberval  departed  from  La  Kochelle. 
After  a  stormy  passage  he  anchored  at  St.  John,  New- 
foundland, June  8,  1542.     Jean  Allefonsce,  whose  story  and 


At  New- 

foundlauij, 

1W2. 


ALLEFONSCE. 


41 


chains  help  us  to  rehearse  their  experiences,  was  i„  one  of  his 

We  have  seen  that  Cartior,  in  the  .spring  of  tliir  year  had 
a  undonocl  h.s  post  at  Cap  Kongo  and  .ome  down  t^  Hve^ 
It  has  been  usna  y  sad  that  in  nnn  ,.(  *i      i     .  ^' 

gulf  1.0  e„e„„„to,.cJl  Koborvri      ,  r,  1'  °  wl  "T  "'•" 

to  l.e  true,  a,„l  tl,at  tl,o  nioeti  J ta   „„.  „lt„!rH       '      7,  ',' 
one  to  (■artici-,  who  could  luive  h,a  JitMn    ^  "«'•".<''  "  S™"--f"l 

tlie  maritime  annals  nf  H.^  H  promment  one  in 

rival  clai„.ras  to  ht  nativ  tvthlT  T'"*,'  ^^'>'"»  "™ 
fame,  for  he  wa,  n.ortS*:  I^sIT  ''"'.JT'  "'  "' 
hge  near  that  Cognae  whid.  Jwe.Lf'-^"''^  ''  *  "'' 
Champlain,  who  live.l  ^^^h  a  g  Ira  „n  Z  °  ^''1  '"'""''■ 
t.  a^oeiatos  o.  .Ue.n.e.  ICt^l^lri:;;:*? 

aftr,r:L"'src?s:.tira,^r"ra ::  '^™,  "^  -  ""- 

order,,  after  reaching  Newfcudi  ttaluT  '^  ^°''^'™''' 

alous  the  Labra,l„;  eoast   to  Td  i,™'™  ™"*  ""'■''■ 

e  we,t.    The  ice  proved  so  den  e  that  Zt^'l  T'^'^  ^ 


42 


CARTIER,  ROBERVAL,   AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


CosmograjMe,  now  in  the  great  Paris  library,  seem  to  indicate 
personal  acquaintanje  with  its  waters,  even  so  far  inland  as 
the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay.  He  seems  to  have  embraced  the 
belief  that  these  regions  were  near,  or  possibly  identical  with, 
Cathay,  and  he  represents  the  Saguenay  as  broadening  in  its 
upper  ^arts  into  the  Sea  of  Cathay.  If  these  maps  of  Alle- 
fonsce  are  the  result  of  his  own  observation  in  part  at  least. 


GULF  OF  ST.  LAWREXCE. 
[Two  Sketches  by  Allefonsce.] 

they  may  bo  looked  upon  as  the  earliest  we  liave  of  any  portion 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  made  by  an  actual  explorer. 

Rol)ervai  himself  ascended  tlie  St.  Lawrence  and  reached  the 

my^Z^^'  "r'"'''^"'"'^""^^  ^^  ^'"^1^  Rouge  by  the  middle  of  July, 
1542,  and  began  defenses  where  Cartier  in  the  ]ire- 
vious  year  liad  established  his  fort.  The  communal  building  _ 
tenement,  castle,  or  whatever  it  was— makes  a  good  show  in 
the  descrii)tion,  with  its  halls,  chambers,  storehouses,  kitchens, 
and  cellar.  The  wliole  grou]i  of  structures  constituted  a  little 
mtrenched   camp,   where  the  company  was  huddled   together. 


nOBERVAL  AT  FRANCE-ROI.  48 

Nothing  but  the  outer  danger  could  have  brought  such  incon- 
gruoiis  elements  mto  subjection  or  made  life  endurable.     The 
question  of  sustenance  soon  harassed  them.     The  huge  house- 
hold was  rough  and  prodigal.     The  stores  were  not  of  the  best, 
and  there  was  small  chance  of  increasing  them  from  the  neigh! 
bonng  tribes  even  if  they  could  be  counted  on  as  friends.     It 
became   therefore,  be- 
fore long,  necessary  to 
deal    out    allotted   ra- 
tions, and  it  was  done 
rigorously.  In  this  way 
famine,  which  at  one 
time    was    alarmingly 
near,  was  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance.    Disease,  how- 
ever,    could     not     be 
barred  out,  and  scurvy 
began  to  make  sad  in- 
roads upon  a  company 
weakened     by     many       _ 
trials,  and  not  in  the  /f/^///?£  flU  C' 
past    bred    to    whole- 
some ways. 

As  exigencies  came, 
Eoberval  showed  him- 
self quite  equal  to  his 
duty.  He  used  the  gib- 
bet and  lash  effectively 
to  preserve  peace  and 
insure  safety  to  the 
community  at  Fran- 
9ois-Eoi,  as  the   post 

was  now  called,  transformed  to  France-Roi  by  Alle- 
tonsce,  and  France-Prime  by  Hakluyt. 

Fortunately  Roberval,  as  Cartier  had  before  him,  escaped 
hostile  attacks  from  the  savages,  and  it  does  not  appear'  that  \h 
Fieneh  were  even  threatened  during  that  perilous  winter.  With 
the  coming  o  spnng  a  better  feeling  pervaded  the  company, 
aud  I  ol  erval  had  the  courage  to  think  of  something  beside 
aisciphuing  his  followers.     He  determined  to  discover,  if  po  s^ 


THE  ST.  LAWRENCE  AND  THE  SAGUENAY. 

[A  Sketch  by  AUefonsce.] 


Frangois-Roi, 


I" « 

h     I' 


44 


C ARTIER,  ROBERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


ble,  what  all  the  stories  of  various  mines  in  the  country  were 
based  upon.  Koberval  would  have  given  much  to  know  what 
the  assayers  had  made  of  the  sparkling  fragments  which  Car- 
tier  had  carried  to  France.  Possibly  in  their  treacherous  in- 
terview, which  in  Ilakluyt's  narrative  is  made  to  precede  Car- 
tier's  stealthy  escape,  tha*-  pilot  may  have  laid  before  his  chief 
the  identical  map  which  a  descendant  of  Cartier  possessed 
nearly  fifty  years  later.  Roberval  would  then  have  descried 
upon  it  the  legend:  "The  Saguenay  country  is  a  rich  land, 
abounding  in  precious  stones." 

Koberval  now  determined  to  push  an  expedition  farther  into 
Roberval  ex-  ^^^^  "itcrior.     Accordiiigly  on  June  5,  1543,  —  Ilak- 
piore.,j.ne,  luyt  givcs  US  the  date,  —  he  started  with  a  flotilla  of 
eight  boats  and  seventy  men.     We  are  told  that  he 
left  thirty  men  to  guard  the  fort,  and  this  total  of  a  hundred 
would  indicate  that  the  winter  and  its  diseases  had  claimed 
many  victims.     He  expected  to  return  to  France-Roi  by  July  1. 
Whither  he  went  it  is  difficult  to  say.      Some  interpret   the 
scant  account  in  Hakluyt  as  signifying  an  ascent  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.     Others  make  him  plunge  through  the  deep  shad- 
ows of  the  Saguenay.     It  has  been  even  stated  that  he  estab- 
hshed  a  fort  on  the  river  Mistassini,  and  that  its  remains  were 
still  traceable ;  but  the  most  trustworthy  explorers  have  never 
found  them  QBuU.  Amer.  Georj.  Soc,  September,  1891). 

At  all  events,  he  found  the  task  of  exploration,  in  whatever 
direction  it  lay,  greater  than  he  anticipated,  and  he  sent  back 
word  to  Royeze,  who  had  been  left  in  command  at  the  fort,  not 
to  expect  his  return  till  July  20,  after  which,  if  nothing  more 
was  heard  of  him,  Royeze  was  at  liberty  to  sail  for  Fraifce. 

The  failure  of  Hakluyt  to  continue  the  story  leaves  us  with- 
out a  guide  to  the  subsequent  fortunes  of  a  colony  which,  as 
the  Abbe  Ferland  contends,  could  hardly  have  left  worthy 
descendants,  if  it  had  established  a  foothold  for  its  jail-birds 
The  reader  needs  to  be  apprised  that  in  what  we  have  gone 
over,  the  present  recital  is  more  or  less  forced.  The  dates  of 
the  several  accounts  are  confusing.  Hakluyt  is  mc  •  ,^  than  usu- 
ally uncertain,  and  Allefonsce  is  sparing  of  dates.  Late  writ- 
ers,  whether  near  or  remote  from  the  time  of  Cartier,  have  not 
done  much  to  render  clearer  the  dependence  of  events. 

In  what  is  to  follow,  the  most  certain  element  of  dates  comes 


C ARTIER  AT  ST  MALO.  45 

fiom  the  somewhat  surprising  fondness  and  opportunities  which 
Cartier  after  his  return  to  St.  Male,  had  f^i   standing  sp  n 
sor  at  baptisms,  and  giving  evidence  in  court.     Lonc^i^ai^  has 


CARTIER. 

[Ti.e  u..a:  Portrait,  but  of  doubtful  authenticity,  foHowin^  the  E„,ravi„,  i„  Suite.  Cuna.Un. 

tranems,  Montreal,  1882.] 

clelved  assiduously  in  the  hidden  sources  of  this  kind  of  evi- 

S  r^'Ml  ;"^  mT.'°  ^^--^"^  ^^^^^^  ^^^  ^^-^-^^  -•  «th-  records 
in  K  Malo  to  winch  his  scrutiny  has  not  been  applied. 

lu  this  way  It  is  made  to  appear  that  Cartier  arrived  at  8t 


46 


C ARTIER,  ROBERVAL,  AND  ALLEFONSCE. 


U  ;] 


Malo  before  October  21,  1542.  In  the  following  sprinjr- 
cartier  in  f  ^  J"  ^^P"!  or  May,  1543  -  his  name  is  absent  from 
St  M^o,       local   records,   and   does  not   reappear   till  autumn 

Lescarbot  says  that  Cartier  made  a  fourth  vovao-e  tJ 
Canada  to  rescue  Roberval,  and  there  was  a  sufficient  interval 
Possible  between  the  spring  of  1543  and  October  or  November 
whvoy-    of  the  same  year  for  him  to  have  done  so.    Lescarbot's 

unsupported  statement  and  this  opportune  interval  are 
all  we  have  upon  which  to  rest  any  such  final  voyage  of  Car- 
tier.  Concerning  his  remaining  years  at  home  we  have  a  few 
tangible  facts. 

It  was  probably  in  the  interval  between  his  second  and  third 
voyage,  and  perhaps  about  the  time  he  was  summoned  in  order 
to  impart  a  little  force  to  the  dilatory  performance  of  Roberval 


CARTIER'S  MANOR. 
[From  Suite's  Canadiens-Franfais,  vol.  ii.] 

that  the  king  bestowed  upon  Cartier  a  manor,  situated  on  the 
coast  a  few  miles  out  of  St.  Malo,  which  has  given  rise,  in  some 
^VTlters,  to  the  belief  that  this  lordship  of  Limoilon  had  made 
iim  a  noble.  If  such  an  honor  coidd  be  indubitably  estab- 
lished, It  might  be  cited  as  another  proof  of  the  way  in  which 
Cartier  basked  in  the  royal  favor.  It  was  from  this  abode,  or 
from  his  town  house  in  St.  Malo,  that  he  occasionally  issued  in 
hi.  retireinent  to  attend  upon  legal  transactions,  as  the  records 
show,     .he  most  important  of  these  citations  for  our  purpose 


DEATH  OF  CARTIER.  47 

is  when  he  is  summoned  with  Roberval  (April  3,  1544^  be 
fore  the  king,  to  settle  the  accounts  of  their  joint  expe- 
(lition.  The  referees  gave  an  award  of  nearly  eio-htv  ^p^"'-^^- 
four  livresto  Cartier,  which  he  never  received,  !and  which  his 
heirs  at  a  later  day  contended  for.  With  this  item  these  two 
men  pass  out  of  sight  in  the  story  of  Canadian  exploration. 

l\e  know  httle  of  the  life  of  Cartier  subsequently,  till  he 
died  at  his  seashore  estate  on  September  1,  I557 
probably  of  an  epidemic  then  prevailing.  Roberval's  se^ttmbt"' 
end  is  more  uncertain.  Perhaps  he  died  later  at  sea  ^'  ^^^' 
perhaps  he  was  assassinated  in  Paris,  -  we  have  bJth  stories 
given  to  us,  -  but  at  all  events  he  was  still  living  in  the  year  of 
Cartier  s  death,  and  thenceforth  he  eludes  us 


'     ' 


l'!*r    I 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   RESULTS   OF  CARTIER's   EXPLORATIONS. 

1542-1603. 

The  results  of  Cartier's  explorations  came  slowly  to   the 
olS'  f    -f-^^l--T  cartographers.      In  tlJ yeJoi 

CW    tiolr-^"'"  ^"  ""'T'^  "'^^''^S-  (153G),  Ali.so  de 
Chaves  the  official  cosmographer  of  Spain,  made  a  plot  of  the 
Ao  th  American  coast,  using-,  it  seems  probable,  maps  of  ex- 
plorations of  which  we  have  no  other  trace,  and  ;hicl    cavel 
some  trends  of  the  coast  differing  from  the  well-known  Sero 
map  of  a  few  years  before.    Although  the  Spaniards  were  kee  > 
ing-  elose  wa  ch  on  the  northern  explorations  of  their  riva       t 
IS  apparent  that  Chaves  had  not  heard  of  Cartier's  mov  m  nt 
and  this  means,  most  likely,  that  the  hydrographers  in  the  set' 
cwsand    ;^^'^;>±  ^Pf"!   -vere  equally  ignorant  of  wliat  France 
the la.,^    had  been  doing,  and  that  nothing  from  Cartier's  re 
ports   had   been   embodied   in  the  Padron    Generil 
cn-dered    „  1526,  with  the  intention  of  portraying  ^  r  by "^r 
he  latest  results  of  discovery.     By  this  time  EH^ero,  wlfo'hTd 

chaige  of  It.     This  map  of  Chaves  is  not  preserved;  but  there 
samap  by  Gutierrez  (1550),  known  to  us,  which  is  1  dd  to 
bej^ased  on  Chaves.     This  Gutierrez  map  gives  no  trace  of  th 
iicnch  voyages ;  nor  does  Oviodo,  the  Spanish  historian,  who 
wrote  the   next  year   (1537)  with  Chaves's  map  before  him 
give  us  any  ground  for  discrediting  the  map  of  Gutierrez  ^,1 

srie  -'^"^'""'^  t/''^.^  '^  ^'^'^''-  ^'-  -"";;: 

C15d8)  the  rising  young  Flemish  map-maker,  Gerard  Merca- 
^>r,  made  his  earliest  map,  which  shows  that  ^o  tidings  ofTe 
Ca-tier  voyages  had  yet  reached  tlie  Low  Countries.  He  cM 
not  even  recognize  the  great  Square  Gulf,  which  had  appeared 
m  the  Ptolemy  of    1511,  as  premonitory  of  the  gulf  ^h 


MAPS  OF  THE  SL  FEENTH  CENTURY.  '  49 

llrlffo  Y  f  .^7^^^^g^ted,  though  three  years  later  Merca- 
tor  aliords  a  faiut  suspicion  of  it  in  his  gores  of  1541. 


MERCATOR,  1538. 
[Northeru  Hemisphere.] 


Wc  do  not  find  .any  better  infornmtion  in  the  best  of  the 
co,Uemp„,.a,v  c„s„,os™p,,e„.     Sebastian  Miinsto,   i„  " 

severed  Ae»founilland  from  the  main,  and  so  did  thu   '""■ 


I 


11 


50 


CAltTOGUAPHICAL  RESULTS,  15^2-1603. 


Italian  Vopellio;   but  Ulpius,  making  the  globe  at  Rome, 


in 


1542,  wludx  .3  now  owned  „,  ...  .,,^  ,„,«  ,,,,,,,,,^,,  ^ 
seems  not  to  have  been  even  thus  imperfectly  informed.  The 
Irench  globe-maker,  who  not  far  from  the  same  time  made  the 
sphere  preserved  at  Nancy,  knew  only  enough  to  make  a  group 
of  islands  west  of  the  Newfoundland  banks.  ^ 

We  turn  to  something  more  intimately  connected  with  Car- 
eer s  own  woi-k.     It  might  go  without  saying  that  Cartier  would 
plot  his  own  tracks;  but  we  have  no  written  evidence  that  he 
did,  other  than  a  letter  of  his  grand-nephew  fifty  years  later 
who  says  that  he  himself  had  inherited  one  such  map.     We 


UU  JUL/Wfi;!,, 


/H*?ASia 


i/JCABO  AR£/VA3 


The  ^e.  foa-ie  Lo.de  ^..^ar  .ae.  ^oe.y.  ^  f^,^,,^ 


ROTZ,  1542. 
[East  Coast.] 

must   look  to  three  or  four  maps,  made  within  five  years  of 
Cartier  s  last  voyage,  and  wMch  have  come  down  to  us,  to  find 
how  the  lost  charts  of  Cartier  affected  cartographiea    know 
edge  m  certain  circles  in  France,  and  placed  the  geograpl"yTf 

years.  "'  """  '  ^'"'  "^"^^  "^^  "°^  improfed^r  sfx'y 

Those  who  have  compared  the  early  maps  find  the  oldest 

cartographical  record  which  we  have  of  Cartier's  first  voyage 

Rotz,  1W2.     yo.  i)  m  a  document  by  Jean  Rotz.  dated  eio-ht  years 
_  later,   and  preserved   in   the  British  Museum.     liar- 

nsse  thinks  that  back  of  this  Rotz  map  there  is  another,  known 


JEAN  ROTZ. 


51 


as  he  Harleyan  mappemonde,  which  is  deposited  in  the  same 
collection  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  a  map  of  Jean  de  Clamoi-gan, 
known  to  have  comprehended  details  of  the  earlier  Cartier  voyl 
ages,  which  has  disappeared  from  the  collection  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  may  also  have  been  nseful  to  liotz,  who  is  held  to  be 
a  frenchman,  which  may  also  account  for  his  acquaintance 
with  Malouin  sources  Hamy,  in  a  recent  paper  iB.lUtin 
deGeor/rapfue  /ustonque,  etc.,  1889),  makes  him  identical 
with  Jean  Roze  of  Dieppe.  This  Bake  of  Idroffrapky,  as  liotz 
calls  It  contains  two  maps  which  interest  us.  One  shows  the 
Orult  oi  fet.  Lawrence  and  the  opening  into  the  river,  which 


Tae  ^oiTici 


O 


ROTZ.  1M2. 
[Western  Hemisphere.] 

indicates  an  acquaintance  with  the  extent  of  Cartier's  first  ex- 
plorations (1534)   and  may  well  have  been  made  some  years 
before  the  date  of  the  manuscript  which  contains  it.     If  its 
outhne  IS  interpreted  correctly,  in  making  Anticosti  a  penin- 
sula  connecting  with  the  southern  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
yver,  ,t  IS  a  further  proof  that  a  foggy  distance  prevented 
Cari^er    rom  suspecting  that  he  was  crossing  the  main  chan- 
"el  ot   the  St.  Lawrence,  when  he  sailed  from  Gaspd  to  the 
Antieosti  shores      The  other  map  may  be  nearer  the  date  of 
he  manuscript,  for  it  carries  the  river  much  farther  from  the 
.ult    and  indicates  a  knowledge   of  Cartier's   second  voyao-e. 
feo  skillful  a  cosmograi)her  as  Santa  Crnz  — wlio«e  map  i-^  pre- 


j    11 


62 


i  II 


CARTOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS, 
serveclm  Stockhohn,  as  Duhlgron  has  lately 
certainly  at  this  period  (1542)  utterly 


154^-lOOJ. 


informed  iis- 


■was 

recent expi„,.„.i„„:,;,,,i,;i;-;;™3 ''""""" "' "''  "'^» 

Iwo  years  later  (1544),  there  w.«    '     «    ^    •       • 

copy  i,  kn„w,   „    i:      m    °:,:< ':  "'■";'"'•  .  -''  '"•*  "  ™>S'^ 
e<Iiti„,„  „f  t|,o  two  were  ,", ,   "1  f  S"ver.u„c.„(,  an,l  the 

library  at    '-i  T  •^'■■'"""'y.  a."!  is  now  i„  tI,o  gm.t 

win„h  T„o,„„,  G«Li'';:,ut!;  ""*"'"•  "'"°"^' "-  -* 

by  the  same  pe  n  1         '^   '    '  ,7,'";  '"'  """'"  »M"™"ly 

tier  explored  if       Tl.o,.o  "loutaiy,  as  far  as  Car- 

torical  SoclHy  (February   18   n     ■{/^: V^f '■^■*^«^^' "■^^^^^^  ^^'■^- 
it.  author  i.  to\^e  taZ-iltJl^i-'::?^^.^^,^^^^^^^^^ 


tl  us  — was 
f  tlie  tlien 

in  an  on- 

>w  famous 
before  any 
t  a  single 
■isiblo  tliat 
it,  and  tlie 
be.  Tlie 
tlio  great 
pu^'Msiied 
tlio  oooks 

1  recourse 
,  varying 
3  printed, 
['parently 
ited  text 
>  be  2)ub- 

niap  is 
liicli  lias 
lays  four 
inferred 
lot  clear 
entative 
me  con- 
It  gives 
w'k,  and 
as  Car- 
t  of  the 
en  used 
ii'e  and 
bat  the 
one  of 
•f  them 
6'  I/is. 
lot  was 
The 


THE  CABOT  MAPFEMONDE. 


63 


64 


cahtouum'hical  uesults,  isp-ieos. 


N 


inap  .s  un  ...dication  that  tho  n,s„ltH  ,.f  CartL-r's  voyaffos  luul 

w.tun  a  few  yoat-H  boco.no  in  a  co.tain  scnso  public  pnmertv. 

I    happouH  tl.at  most  .>f  wl.at  wo  know  lespc-ctinK  the  gouosis 

of  tho  nutp  .H  from   KuKlinh  hou.cos,  or  Hources  which  point  to 

L.ij-lan.l ;  hut  th:.  map,  it  Hocms  probahh-,  was  nuulo  iu  Flan- 

ilcrs  mul  not  m  Fvance,  nor  in  Spain,  tho  country  with  which 

Uibota  otticuil  Mtandin,'  c.mnectcd  him.     It  h.oks  very  much 

Iiko  a  8urropt.t,ou8  publicati.m,  which,  to  avoid  tlio  scrutiny  of 

the  Spanish    llylrographi.-al   Otticc.  had    been  made   beyon.l 

their  reach,  while  an  anonymous  publit:iti..n  of    it  j.rotectcd 


Ccif/^^ 


nESCELIERS  OR  HENRI   n.  MAP,  IWB. 
K.T :    1.   Oohejafta.      i  R.   ,l„    8a;?,my.      3.   A«„„nption.     4.    R.    Cwticr      r,   H,.ll   M« 

Hu>  irresponsible  maker  or  makers  from  official  annoyance, 
llus  nu.y  account  for  its  rarity,  and  ])erhaps  for  the  inconmlete- 
ness  of  Its  information.  ITarrisse,  liowever,  in  his  latest  iiibli- 
oat.oii.  The  Dhcnvcr,,  of  Korth  An^n-ic,  is  inclined  to  rccoo-. 
nize  Cabot's  direct  connection  with  the  map,  an.l  su-jrests 
that  Cabot  nsod  it  to  enforce  the  claim  of  En-land  to  the 
TTlll'ilof'  f:'^"^^^^^'^''^"^^  oxplorino-,  by  placing,  the 
land  all  of  1407  at  Cape  Breton.  In  doino-  so  Cabot  ne,^•^tived 
al  the  earlier  implied  and  positive  statements,  that  the  land- 
fall of  John  Cabot  lia.l  been  ten  degrees  farther  north  on  the 


VAU.A/I/J  ANIl  IlKHVIiUli/ls.  {5 

tl.c  date  of  it«  uuU^in!"  l  ,  ""''^"'"  *''"'  '"^^  ^^"'   f""''"' 

uuiking,  ,t  l,ad  been  owned  in   Dieppo.     Tl.o 


NICOLAS  VALLAUD. 

."ff  .'egio,,,  it  wa,  b^d  on  P ort„™t  /,™L  f  \ P    •'";f''°'- 
faslnoiied  by  the  onlcr  „f  tl     ,  >     ,  »""rces-     This  13  the  one 


66 


CARTOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS,  154^-1603. 


f  ■< 


I    i 


I    I 


This  fact,  as  well  as  its  official  character,  brings  it  close  to  the 
prime  sources  ;  and  the  map  may  even  identify  these  sources 
in  the  representations  of  Koberval  and  his  men,  as  they  are 
grouped  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  I  am  informed  by 
the  present  owner,  the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres,  that 
an  attempt  at  one  time  to  efface  the  legend  which  discloses  its 
authorship  has  obscured  but  has  not  destroyed  the  lettering. 
The  map  formerly  belonged  to  Jomard,  the  geograpiicr. 

There  are  only  the  sketch  maps  of  Allefonsce  which  can  be 
Auefonsce.     ^^'^^^^^  nearer  the  explorers  themselves  than  the  maps 
already  mentioned.      What   this  pilot   of    Koberval 
made  on  the  spot  we  know  not,  but  he  attempted,  In  1545,  in 
a  rude  way  to  draw  upo;i  his  experiences  in  a  little  treatise. 
This    manuscript  Cos?nographie,  in  which  the   coast-lines  are 
washed  in  at  tho  top  of  its  sheets,  is  preserved  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris.     Several  modern  writers  have  used  them,  and 
the  sketches  have  been  more  than  once  copied.     Bibliographers 
know  better,  however,  a  little  chapbook,  which  ran  through  at 
least  four  editions  in  the  interval  before  new  interest  in  Canada 
was  awakened  by  Champlain.     It  was  first  published  in  1559, 
after  the  death  of  Allefonsce ;  and  his  name,  which  appears  in  the' 
title,  Les  Voijages  avantureux  du  Capitaine  Alfonce  Sainton- 
f/eois,  was  apparently  made  prominent  to  help  "the  sale  of  the 
book,  rather  than  to  indicate  the   intimate  connection  of  the 
redoubtable  pilot  with  it.     His  manuscript  CosmograpJiie  had 
been  prepared  by  himself  for  the  royal  eye,  while  this  printed 
production,  which  was  issued  at  Poictiers,  was  dressed  up  by 
others  for  the  common  herd,  without  close  adherence  to  the 
manuscript.     A  popular  local  bard  sets  forth  pretty  much  all 
we   know  of  its   hero  in  some  preliminary  verses.     Like  all 
chapbook.^,  the  little  volume  has  become  rare ;  and  when  a  copy 
was  sold  ia  Dr.  Court's  collection  (1885),  it  was  claimed  that 
only  three  copies  had  been  sold  in  France  in  thirty  years. 

The  most  prolific  map-maker  of  this  period  in  Europe  was 
Agneae.  ^aptista  Agnese  of  Venice.  He  had  a  deft  hand, 
which  made  his  portolanos  merchantaW'^,  The  dex- 
terity of  their  drawing  has  perhaps  enhanced  their  value  enough 
to  prevent  careless  wear  of  them,  so  that  they  are  not  infre- 
quent in  Italian  libraries,  and  will  be  fouad  in  almost  all  the 
large  collections  in  Europe.     One  certainly  has  found  its  way 


AGNES E  AND  RAMUSIO.  57 

V.t^l^:  Th  "  rr"^"^  "  *^"  Cavter-Brown  Library  at 
Fiovidence.  Though  Agnese  was  making  these  maps  for  over  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  beginning  about  the  time  of  Cartier's 
aetivxty,  he  never  much  varied  from  the  conventional  types 
wh.ch  successively  marked  the  stages  of  geographical  knT 
ledge.  _  He  has  hardly  a  map  which  can  be  accounted  a  ^urn- 
ng-point  m  American  geography,  and  his  drafts  simply  follow 
the  prevailing  notions.  ^  ^ 

Thus  it  was  that  for  sixteen  years  after  Cartier  and  Rober- 
val  had  finished  their  work,  the  French  public  was  made  a  . 
quainted  only  vvith  the  Bref  ItecU  and  the  scant  na  "ate  to 
which  the  popularity  of  Allefonsce's  name  had  given  a  foxced 
currency.     The   European  scholar  fared  better  than 
the  provincial  Frenchman ,  for  the  third  volume  of    '^'""""°- 
the  Baccolta  of  Ramusio,  which  was  devoted  wholly  to  Ameri- 
can discovery,  had  appeared  in  Venice  in  1556.     It  is  a  chief 
source  still  to  be  consulted  for  the  earliest  explorations  of  Z 
St^  Lawrence  region.    It  is  here  that  we  find  an  account  of  that 
Gran  Capitano,"  identified  with  the  Dieppese  navigator,  Jean 
Pai-mentier  who  visited  the  Baccalaos  region  in  the  early  years 
of  that  century.     Here,  too,  we  derive  a  scant  knowledge  of 
Denys  and  Aubert  as  already  mentioned.     But  it  is  concerning 
the  first  voyage  of  Cartier  that  Ramusio  helps  us  most.    Where 
he  got  his  records  of  that  enterprise  of  1534,  it  is  not  easy  to 
conjecture  and  what  he  says  remained  for  a  long  while  the  sum 
ot  all  that  vyas  known  concerning  it.     That  there  were  orid- 
nal  y  several  manuscript  texts  of  this  narrative,  varying  enough 
n  the  copying  to  make  differences  that  became  distinguisha- 
ble appears    o  be  certain ;  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  trac?  them 
dist  nctively  in   the   various   printed   texts   which   have   been 

itnFWi       ^'    r*  '\  ''-'^""•^^^  "'^^-^*^-"*  <^-^^  "-d  b^ 
1580  W.'"  ";t    "^  '^'  '"^^^  ^"8"^'^  iv^n.\^^on  (London; 
1580),  which  IS   he  source  of  most  that  has  appeared  in  that 
anguage  respecting  the  voyage.   A  Norman  publisher  at  Rouen 
printed  a  French  text,  and  it  is  not  quite  certain  that  h«  used 
Kamusio.     It  has  been  suspected  that,  in  pretending  to  make  a 
translation,  this  editor  may  possibly  have  used  an  offi-  , 
cial  narrative,  and  that  his  pretense  was  intended  to  -"-■""' 
conceal  a  surreptitious  use  of  a  forbidden  paper.     When  Tross 
reprinted  this  little  book  (Paris,  1865),  hJcould  find  "ly  ^^e 


58 


CARTOaiiAPHICAL   RESULTS,  15J^-1603. 


rrisse 


copy,  and  that  was  in  the  great  Paris  Library ;  but  Ha 
later  discovered  a  coi)y  in  the  Sainte  Genevieve  Library.     Tlie 
fact  that  the  book  has  nearly  passed  out  of  siglit  might  indi- 
cate, as  with  the  BrcflUnU  that  there  was  either  a  suppres- 
sion  of  It,  or  an  inordinately  hard  use  of  it  by  readers.     Two 
years  after  publishing  this  iJiscours  du  Voyage  (18G7),  Tross 
surprised  the  critics  by  publishing  a  Mdation  orhiinah,  as  if 
It  were  Cartier's  own  narrative  of  this  first  voyage".    The  aro-u- 
ments  of  Michelant,  the  editor,  in  supporting  tliis  view  of  Its 
authenticity  are  strong,  but  hardly  conclusive.     This  precious 
manuscript  was  discovered  in  the  Paris  Library  in  18G7,  luivino- 
previously  escaped  notice.  * 

In  the  year  before  the  appearance  of  the  American  section 
ot  Karausio,   and  probably  two  years  after  that  Italian  editor 
Gomara.        ^^'^  gathered  his  material,  the  Spanish  historian,  Go- 
mara,  showed  in    his  IHstoria    General  (Saragossa, 
155o),  that  intelligence  of  Cartier's  exploits  had  reached  him 
in  some   confused  form.      Indeed,  Gomara   is    rarely   critical 
111  what  he  offers.     It  will  be  remembered   that  Cartier  had 
given  the  name  of  "  Sainct  Laurens  "  to  a  small  estuary  in  the 
gulf,  and  It  has  never  been  quite  established  when  the  same 
name  gained  currency  as  the  appellation  of  the  gulf  itself,  and 
of  the  great  river  of  Caniula.     Nevertheless,  Gomara  writes  in 
1555,  or  perhaps  a  year  earlier,  that  "  a  great  river  called  San 
Lorenzo,  which  some  think  an  arm  of  the  sea  [^.  e.  leading  to 
Cathay],  has  been  sailed  up  for  two  hundred  leagues,  and  is 
called  by  some  the  Strait  of  the  Three  Brothers." 

We  may  consider  that  from  the  Rotz,  Vallard,  Cabot,  and 
Descehers  maps,  jiretty  nearly  all  the  ground  that  Cartier's 
own  maps  could  have  disclosed  is  deducible  by  the  careful  stu- 
dent, and  that  a  large  jiart  of  our  history  of  this  obscure  period 
IS  necessarily  derived  from  such  studies.  Now,  what  was  the 
effect  of  these  cartogi-ajjhical  records  upon  the  maps  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  for  the  rest  of  that  century  ? 

This  question  brings  us  to  consider  nearly  all  the  leading 
Cartogr.v       European  cartographers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to 

pliers,  six-        „  i      ,  •    ■  i  ,  '' 

teenthcen-     vvHatever   maritime  peoples  they  belong.     The  most 

famous  and  learned  of  the  German   cosmographers, 

Sebastian  Miinster,  contented  himself  with  insularizing  a  region 


PEDRO  MEDINA. 


59 


tt  eaS  n.T  1  "^*^  *'"  ^"^^^^^  ^-*--^-  P^dro  Medina, 
Z  and  if  nfrt  T*'J  '°  -an.anship,in  his  ^..«  ,/«  ^„,,; 
ym,  and  mother  books,  for  a  score  of  years  after  this,  used  a 


PART  OF  MEDINA'S  MAP,  1545 


ZZhI  "'""'  .-n-ely  a  conventional  gulf  and  river. 

Sti^^fn  !rf  ?"''""""«  '"  "S"'^  *«  «-»*  "bout  New- 
ten  ;  a     bU"''  -S""-"-  »'  "-^  *--i  Oi-veries  of 


60 


CARTOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS,  151^2-1603. 


I 


GASTALDI. 


'^ 


tfii 


?< 


(1,1. 


1 


61 


We  are  in  1546  first  introduced  to  Gia- 
como  G^staldi,  a  Venetian  map-maker  of 
reputation  throughout  Italy.     He 
gives   us   a  map   wliich    was   in-  ^'"'"'"• 
eluded  in  Lafreri's  atlas.      It  looks  like  a 
distinct  recognition  of   Cartier,  in  a   lon<. 
river  which  flows  into   a    bay   behind    an 
island.     This  ,s  the  more  remarkable  be- 
cause    when  he  was  employed  two   years 
later  to  make  the  maps  for  the  Venetian 
edition  of  Ptolemy  (1548),  ],e  reverted  to 
the  old  pre-Cartier  notions  of  an  archipel- 
ago  and  rudimentary  rivers. 

When  Eamusio  was  gathering  his  Amer- 
ican data  at  this  time,  he  depend- 
ed on  an  old  friend,  Frascastoro    '''•''^^''«*°'-'>' 
to  supply  the  illustrative  maps.     This  gn„. 
tleman,  now  in  advanced  years,  was  livuig 
on  his  estate  near  Verona,  and  in  correspon- 
dence  with  geographical  students  throuo-h- 
,   out  Europe.     Oviedo  had  sant  some  nav- 
,   igators   charts   to  him    from   Spain,   and 
\   f^^"^"^^*^  t^"«  »«  that  similar  information 
I   had  come  to  him  from  Prance  relative  to  the 
I   discoveries  in  New  France.     These  charts, 
placed  by  Irascastoro  in  Eamusio's  hands 
were  by  this  editor  committed  to  Gastaldi.' 
Ihe  result  was  the  general  map  of  America 
which  appears  in  the  third  volume  of  the 
liaccolta.      This    map  is  singularly  inex- 
pressive for  the  Baccalaos  region.     Some- 
thing more  definite  is  revealed  in  another 
ina])  more  confined  in  its  range.     A  study 
ot  this  last  map  makes  one  feel  as  if  the 
rudimentary   rivers   of    the   Ptolemy   map 
Clo48)  had  suggested  a  network  of  rivers 
stretching  inland.     It  hu.  one  feature  in  the 
shoals  about  Sable  Island  so  peculiar  and  so 
closely  resembling    that   feature  in  Kotz's 
map,  that  Gastaldi  must  have  worked  with 


m 


lijif 


62 


CARTOG.IAPHICAL   RESULTS,   15J^-1603. 


that  map  before  hun,  or  he  must  have  used  the  sources  of  that 
map.  With  this  exception,  tliere  is  absohitely  nothin-^  i„  the 
map  sliowing  any  connection  with  the  cartograpliy  of  the  Cartier- 
Kobervai  expeditions.  Tliese  features  stand,  in  fact,  for  earlier 
notions,  and  are  made  to  illustrate  the  narrative  of  the  "Gran 
v^apitano. 

There  is  a  Portuguese  map  by  Johannes  Freire,  which  must 
Freire,etc.      '^^®  ^^^^^  ^^ased  on  Cartier's   second  voyage,  for  it 
leaves  undeveloped  the  west  coast  of  Newfoundland 
:S  ,^'^^'^^^^^.^^"--^  "^    1534.     Another  Portuguese t:;; 

with  boH,  r  fi"T  "'i   '""'^  ^'  '^""^^^'  «^«"«  acquaintance 
111  .f       and  second  voyages  of  Cartier,  as  does  the 

t^ie  Afoir  ^t:,"^t^""^^  leanings,  which  is  preserved  in 

itme  1     t"  f      \  ^'"T  "'  ^^"^'  "^^^  ''  --"bed  to  Guil- 
laume  le  Testu.     A  popular  map  by  Bellero,  used  in  various 

Icovels  "''  *'"  ^""''  ""'''^^  ^S"--  *^«  French 


0 


HOMEM,  1358. 

The  map  of  Plomem  in  1558  is  an  interesting  one.     It  is  in 

"  ZTA  '^'  "^"'^^^""^  hydrographor,  preserved  in 

the  Bri  ish  Museum.      It  is  strongly  indicative  of  in 
dependent  knowledge,  but  whence  it  came  is  not  clear      I  e 
worked  m  Venice,  a  centre  of  such  knowledge  at  tiTtime 
and  Ilomem  s  map  is  a  proof  of  the  way  in  which  nautical  in-' 
telligence  failed  to  establish  itself  in  the  Atlantic  seapor^bu 


Homem. 


HOMEM,  RVSCELU,  ETC.  fig 

rathe,,  found  ,.ec„gj,it-„„  f„,,  „,,  b,,,„flt  of  later  seholars  i„  t|,i, 
A  I nat  c  centre.       t ,,  ,„  this  map,  for  instance,  that  we  .  t     e 
e  .■  hest  recog„,zable  plottM,g  of  the  Bay  of  F,  ndy      U^t  „■  th 
all  Ins  ;ae,.tne,s  the  n,aterial  whieh  Ka.nusio  had    he"  v  T 
.-espeefng  Cart,ei'.,  flr>,t  voyage  seen,,  to  h.ave  .J^^l 
l.erl,aps   Home,,,  faile,l  to  „nde«tand   that  ,n,viX  •       'I 
where  .t  revealed  the  indde  eoast  of  NewfonnZd      Wh  t    e 
fom,d  ,„  any  of  the  accounts  of  the  Cartier  voyages  to  w  m  ,  t 
Ins  ,nakmg  the  no.th  b.Tnk  of  the  St  Lawre,!/^    '°,"'"  ■"" 
ski-ting  the  Arctic  Sea  is  hard  to  i;^ZLZr^Z 
only  one  who  developed  this  notion.     W,   l,ave  seen     ,.    A 
onsce  beLeved  that  the  Saguenay  conducted  to  such  a  VZi 
tl,e,.e  are  other  features  of  that  pUofs  sketches  which  are' e" 
sonant  w,th  such  a  view;  while  a  network  of  strait,  and  eC 
nels  pervad,ng  th,s  Canadian  region  is  a  .  ature  of   ,„e  ""' 
g.'.aved  maps  at  a  consider.ably  later  day.     Ilomem     X  ,^ 
Ven,ce,  most  probably  was  in  eo„.,ultation  with  K    I,  ,™  °",n 

Smutid  :Grir'°T*'7  r^  °'  """^  -'"=■■  ^^^ 

ir„  I  Sis  V  .",r 'ti^r  tv'T"^'' '-  '-^ '- 

■   v«f  ^.^  f       1  X     ,  ^""™^'  '^^I'lt  tins  Canadian  res:  on  niav 

et  be  found  to  be  cut  „p  i„to  islands,  and  l,e  say.s  that   he 

reports  of  Cartier  had  left  this  uncertainty  in  hi.s  mLd      The 

tones  which  Cartier  had  heard  of  great  waters  lyin"  Wonl 

he  po„its_  he  had  reached  had  doubtless  something  to  do  wUh 

these  fancies  of  the  map-makers. 

When  the  learned  Italian,  Ruscelli,  printed  his  translation  of 
Pto  emy  at  Venice  (1561),  he  added  his  own  maps, 
lor  he  was  a  professional  cartographer.     He  also  an    """""'• 

J^rascastoro,  for  the  map  which  he  gave  of  "Tierra  nuevn  " 
reverted  to  the  same  material  of  the  ^pre-Cartie  ^  Id  Xh 
had  been  used  by  Gastaldi,  showing  that  he  either  was  ignl  ^^t 
of  the  claims  of  Cartier's  discoveries,  or  that  he  rejected  th;n 
Kuscelh  clung  to  this  belief  pertinacinn«n,  ,„a  neve  va  -ed 
Ins  map  m  successive  editions  for  a  dn-,pn  L  T  i 

«.«  interval  Agnese  (1504)  and' wT  (S)^  ^  1  "l  •;;,' 
We  h.avo  two  .naps  in  1566  in  which  the  Cartier  2"!  "  e 
recogn,zed,  l„.t  in  quite  different  ways.     The  map  of  "^  ' 
^icola,  des  L,en,,  of  Dieppe  was  acquired  by  the  <4at  '""•"°'' 
Lbrary  of  Paris  in  1857,  and  the  viiitor  the're  ^r;;"^  see  it 


'f    li 


r  i 


64 


CAlirOGR^iPHICAL  RESULTS,  154J-lGa3. 


under  glass  in  the  geographical  de])urtmeut.  It  is  very  pro- 
nounced in  the  record  of  Cartier;  for  his  nan.o  is  d..sphiyed 
along  the  shore  of  a  broad  sound,  which  is  made  to  do  duty 
zaitieri.  ^f^  .^''"^  ^^^  J^'^wicnce.  The  other  is  the  map  of  Zal- 
tieri,  with  an  inscription,  in  which  the  author  claims 
to  have  received  late  information  from  the  French.  In  this 
niap  the  St  Lawrence  is  merely  a  long,  waving  line,  and  the 
river  IS  made  to  flow  on  each  side  of  a  large  island  into  a,  bay 
studded  with  islands.  -^ 


MERCATOR,   15C9. 


Tliree  or  four  years  later,  we  come  to  th^  crowning  work  of 

orteHuB""-       ^^J''"^'"*^  Mercator   in  his  great  planis])here  of  15G9; 

and  a  year  later  to  the  atlas  of  the  famous  Flemish 

geographer  who  did  so  much  to  revolutionize  cartography  — 

Abraham  Ortelius.     The  great  bay  has  noxv-  become,  with  Mer- 


MER  CA  TOR,    OR  TEL  I  US. 


65 


cator,  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  iSinuH  LavrentU:)',  but  the 
main  river  is  left  without  a  name,  and  is  carried  far  west  be- 
yond Hochelaga  (Montreal)  to  a  water-shed,  which  separates 


-4]iilr^^''^*^*^^vtiiri?rii^'  "jj 


ORTELirs,  1570. 

the  great  interior  valley  of  the  continent  from  the  Pacific 
slope.  Here  was  what  no  one  had  before  attempted  in  interpre- 
tation of  the  vague  stories  which  Cartier  had  heard  from  the 
Indians.     Mereator  makes  what  is  apparently  the  Ottawa  open 


I  ii 


66 


CARTOGRAPIWAL   RESULTS,   l5J^-uu,., 


H 


a  waterway,  as  Cart.er  could  have  funcie.l  if.  whoa  ho  .a.ed 
from  the  .sun. nut  of  Mo„t  '   .,ale.     Thi.s  pa.sa.e  can  ef    h 
.nas.na  .o„  .„to  the  .-oat  country  of  the  Saguenay,  w  id.  t  e 
I.Hhanstol.l  ot  as  bounding  on  a  large  body  of  fresh  war 
secns  easy  to  suppose  that  this  was  an  .nunp<vt;.tion  of  th- 
route  winch  in  the  next  generation  couduct-d    aa.yr  a  Jesui    io 
he      eorg,an  Bay  .nd  so  developed  H.e  upper  lies  lo       be- 
fore the  shores  o     Lake  Erie  were  con.prehended.     Not";;;,  of 
the  earher  n.aps  had  divined  this  possible  solution  of  Cur   ei" 
pro.  em  ;  an,   Mercator  did  it,  so  far  as  we  .-an  now  se "  wi  1 

notlung  to  aid  hiui  but  a  study  of  Cartier's  u-.n-.H^  • 

%r  ri„  ,.    ,  ,      V  ^^  v^aiiiti  s  narrative,  or  ])ossi- 

of  Cart,e,- ,  map,  or  data  copied  fro,,,  tl,»,„.     It  ^U,  „„..  „£ 
,0,0  feats  ol  pvccience  tln-ougi,  eo.npamtive  »tudi,.s  wi  id,, " 
.t  Hc.,o„l,  soopapho,-  at  the  I,c,ul  of  l,i.,  p,.ofe»s,on       iv - 
ma,,  .n^ght  ho  wa»  the  first  to  ,„a,,  o„t  a  g.-eat  intorio.  va  lo; 
to  the  cont,„o„  ,  separated  fro,,,  the  Atlaatie  sh,p„  l,y  a  „,  m,^ 
^,„„,„  range  that  eould  well  stan,l  for  tl,e  Allihaifi,:       D 

watu.s,ed  o  tl,e  great  eont.neut  by  8t„dyi„g  the  report,  of 
De  Soto  i„  h„  passage  to  the  Mississippi,  during  the  very 
yearwhen  Cartier  and  Koberval  were  devel„pi„g\h  .;:;^ 
northe,.,,  valley.     There  was  yet  no  oonooption^f"  t|  e  w^y  in 

W  ^*''  "'  "''""'""y  ">  •"=  «'»'"«•  from  the 

gre!:"rftlt  ''T*  f'^'f?'  "^  '*  '""»«''■'  «■"*  the 
great  mass  ot  fresh  water,  to  which  the  way  by  the  Ottawa 

po,.,ted,  eonneotod  with  the  Arotie  seas.    This^^he  made  eWdelt 

fently  ifdtn?  "'  ''V:     ^^"■"■'  -  '■"».  »<>  ha.!  r':! 
■ently  Indden  the  uncertainty  by  partly  ooyering  the  li.nits  of 

^S."        -T.' 7*f  \  »  .^isnot"-'-     Hakluyt  in  the  sa,ne  year 

tions  of  sillf  f     ,°"*'      "    ""  '"  ■""^  ""'feflnod  the  connee- 
t,o„s  of  sad,  a  fresh-water  sea.     The  ,„a,,-n,akers  struggled  for 

ill  irthelTt  r  "™"'t  '""*™  '•■'■^«'  "•--"  Mercl  " 
1570   157?  et,      "'?T'  ^T  ^^"■'''"■'*'  '"'"•''■     O.'toli„s also 

(1598),  Botero  (1003),  and  others.     It  is  fair  to  observe,  how- 


f  ■  m  f 


rilEOIiKTICAL  LAKES 


67 


ever  that  Ortd.us  in  one  of  his  maps  ,  ir,?",)  has  shunned  tho 
conchiHion,  ami  Metelhis  ( IfiOQ)  was  sinuhuly  eantious  when  he 
nserl  the  customary  vignette  to  cover  wliat  was  doubtful.  There 
vasat  ^he  same  time  no  lack  of  believers  in  the  fresh- v.te, 
/I'oJ'^'Vr'  '\1^1*^''^'"*  in  the  map  of  Judaeis  (1593),  De  W 
(15%,,  Wytfl.et(1597),  and  Quadns  (1000;,  not  to  u.I 
others.  lh.s,3  theonzurs,  while  th-  v  connected  it  with  a  sait 
northern  sea,  made  current  for  a  while  the  name  of  Lake  Coni 
bas,  as  applied  to  the  fresh-wat.r  basin.  This  body  of  --a*,  r 
-;emod  n,  4ill  later  maps  after  11  .Uon".  *huo  to  shift  its  posi- 
tion, and  was  mexgcd  in  the  great  bay  discovered  by  that  luivi- 


n:"a   \ 


r^' 


^i:V  ^ — 


-   > '- 


*"IA,  -0 


JUDAEIS,   1593. 


gator.  It  was  not  till  a  sugoestion  appeared  in  one  of  tho  maps 
of  the  Arnheim  P(uh'm>/  of  1597,  made  more  emphatic  by 
Moliueaux  in  1000,  that  this  flitting  interior  sea  was  mad.  to 
be  the  source  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  while  it  was  at  the  same 
time  supposed  to  have  some  outUt  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The 
great  interior  lakes  were  then  fore.  aad.. wed  in  the  "  Laoke  of 
Tadenac,  the  bounds  whereof  are  unknown,"  as  Molineaux's 
legend  nads. 

The  Englisii  seamen  had  become  active  in  this  geographical 
quest  very  shortly  after  Mercator  and  Ortelius  had   ^„  ,,^^ 
well  established  their  theories  in  the  public  mind.    Sir  "'"""»*• 
Humphrey  Gilbert  had  indeed  penetrated  this  region  ;  but  when 


68 


■'  f 


;j 


■ 


CAUTOaitAPHICAL   RESULTS,  1542-1603. 


he  pubhshed  hi.s  map  in  157(5,  ho  had  helped  to  popularize 
no  M  T.r  'r"^^^'^""'^-  ^'athering  of  islands  in\vh  was 
now  called   he  land  of  Canada.     Frobisher's  exploration    w^e 

l"fel.ci  latitudes  there  was  a  way  throuKl.  the  continent.  Ilak- 
H„kiuyt.       ^"yt,  m  his  nesterrw  Planfunj,  tells  us  that  the  bruit 

Jn^       1  .t\  '  '^''^'^^'^  *^'"^  ^•^'''^'•'^'^  Oitelius,  and  had 

nduced  that  geographer  to  come  to  England  in  1577/"  tTu  ye 

and  looke  mto  the  secretes  of  Frobishe?s  Voyadge."     IltkW 

time  ^^VT-/^f  *''^  "^^^-^^^  geographer  "'tohl  him  atTi 
time  "that  if  the  warres  of  Flaunders  had  not  bene,  they  of 


QUADUS,  1600, 

the  Lowe  Countries  had  meant  to  have  discovered  those  partes 
o    Amenea  and  the  northweste  straite  before  thi,  tyn Te  "   lak 
luyt  had  ,t  much  at  heart  to  invigorate  the  En.-lisl  with  a  s,  itrt 

"    rr      ,       r"  ■''"'  procrastinate  the  planli o,"  he  sav, 

st.w::e;rtT.:^vr;trti:e^t^^^^^^^^^ 

one.  sel£  as  to  whft  HaHuyt  :et"  when'  i:-:;^  r^pS 


<i.  "•^' 


fU  KL  U YT,  MOLINEA  UX. 


G9 


vioustoCartiersvoyago  there  had  J,eon  EngliHh  hooks  mak- 
ng  reference   to  the  St.  Lawrence  Ciulf.     IVLnlern  inven  1 

mc't  ro£"\'"'-  '^"'^^  '?  ^""^"^  ^""^«  -'^^  the  scaSt 
ment  o  of  An.encan  explorations  before  Eden  printed  his 
translation  of  MUnster  in  .1553,  nearly  twenty  years' a^^Ca 

on  Haklnyt  s  words,  conld  give  no  satisfactory  explanation  of 
what  seems  to  be  tlieir  plain  D<oanin-.  P^'i"'inon  ot 


The  y<.ai-  before  IJakluj-t  wrote  tL  sentence,  he  had  eiven 
up  an  ,n.ent,on  „£  joining  in  Oilherf»  la«t  ex,,e,lition,  and  ill 


MOLINKAUX'S  MAP,  KKK). 


gone  to  Pans  (1583)  as  chaplain  to  Sir  Edward  Stafford. 
T\  uile  m  that  city  we  find  him  busy  with  "diligent  inquiries  of 
such  things  as  may  yeeld  any  light  unto  our  westerne  diseov- 
erie  makmg  to  this  end  such  investigations  as  he  could  re- 
sp  cting  current  und  contemplated  movements  of  the  Spanish 

drew  attention  to  what  he  understood  Carfcler  to  sn/oi  a  river 
L:!  '  " W W^"1 '"'  '^r  """^^"  "  -uthwarde  from  Hoclie- 
W  T  V  ^i  1  "  "'^'''  *°  ''''''  ^"^^^^«  «t«ry  of  a  way 
fro^  .^  ^^^'''^"^Pl''^"^  and  the  Hudson,  or  to  ibe  longer  route 
from  the  Iroquois  country  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  may  be 


m 


I'll 


fii 


If 


70 


CARTOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS,   IBl^-ims. 


a  question ;  if  indeed  it  may  not  mean  that  the  St.  Lawrence 
itself  bent  towards  tlie   south  and  found  its  rise  in  a  warmer 
clime,  as  the  cartogruphers  who  were  contemporaries  of  Ilak- 
luyt  made  it.     llakluyt  further  translates  what  Cartier  makes 
Donnacona  and  otlier  Indians  say  of  these  distant  parts,  where 
the  people  are  "clad  with  clothes  as  wee   [the  French]  are, 
very   honest,  and   many  inhabited  townes,   and  that  they  had 
greate  store  of  golde  and  redde   co^jper;  and  that  within  the 
land  beyonde  the  said  lirste  ryver  unto  Ilochelaga  and  Saguy- 
nay  ys  an  iland  env;yroned  rounde  aboute  with  that  and  other 
ryvers,  and  that  there  is  a  sea  of  freslie  water  founde,  as  they 
have  hearde  say  of  those  of    Saguenay,  there  was  never   man 
hearde  of,  that  founde  vnto  the  begynnynge  and  ende  thereof." 
Here  is  the  warrant  that  Mercator  and  his  followers  found  for 
their  sea  of  sweet  water.    llakluyt  adds  :  "  In  the  Frenche  origi- 
nall,  which  I  sawe  in  the  Kinge's  library  at  Paris,  yt  is  furtlfer 
put  downe,  that  Donnacona,  the  Kinge  of  Canada,  in  his  barke 
had  traueled  to  that  contrie  where  cynamon  and  cloves  are  had." 
llakluyt,  with  the  tendency  of  his  age,  could  not  help  associat- 
ing this  prolonged  passage  with  a  new  way  to  Cathay,  and  lie 
cites  in  support  "the  judgmente  of  Gerardus   Mercator,  that 
excellent  geogi'apher,  in  a  letter  of  his,"  which   his  son  had 
shown  to  Hakluyt,  saying,  "  There  is  no  doubte  but  there  is  a 
streighte  and  shorte  waye  open  unto  the  west,  even  to  Cathaio." 
Hakluyt  then  closes  his  list  of  reasons  for  believing  in  this  idti- 
mate  passage  by  adding,  in  the  words  of  Ramusio,  that  "  if  the 
Frenchmen  in  this  their  Nova  Francia  woulde  have  discovered 
upp  farther  into  the  lande  towardes  the  west  northwest  partes, 
they  shoulde  have  founde  the  sea  and  have  sailed  to  Cathaio." 

Before  Hakluyt  published  any  map  of  his  own,  there  were 
John  Dee.  ^^^"^  English  maps  which  became  prominent.  In  1580, 
108(^82:  ^*':  *^o^"^  ^ee  presented  to  Queen  Elizabeth  a  map 
which  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  It  has 
nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  the  other  maps  of  the  time, 
which  show  a  St.  Lawrence  liiver  greatly  prolonged.  The 
second  map  was  far  more  distinctive  and  more  speculative. 
Huscelli  in  1561  and  Martines  in  1578  had  represented  the 
country  south  of  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence  as  an  island,  with  a 
channel  ou  the  west  of  it,  connecting  the    Atlantic  with  the 


I 
I 


Y 


r>EE  AND  LOK. 


71 


-n^sfiri:ii^,:zstft^r^lrj; 


.   Hi 

■ 


Ill    iT' 

31. 


72 


CARTOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS,   1543-1603. 


W  made  the  grea   r  vcr  xatl.er  an  ocean  inlet  than  an  affluent 

t  ^"l;oo?^''^"^*  ^^^^P*"^  ^^'^  "^'-^P  ^^  l^is  little  Divers 

Voyages  (1682)  to  illustrate  an  account  of  the  voyage  of  Ve 
razano,  and  curiously  did  so,  because  there  is  no  trace  of  Verra^ 

passed  into  oblivion  with  other  cartographers,  although  there 
was  a  curious  reminder  of  it  in  1585,  when  lialph  Lane  on  the 
Caro  ma  coast  learned  that  the  Eoanoke  River  at  its  sprinc^s 
sometimes  got  the  spray  of  the  western  ocean.  We  have  a  readv 
presented  this  Lok  map  to  the  reader  [ante,  p.  20]  ^ 


HAKLUyT-MARTTR  JFAP,  LIST 


When  Hakluyt  again  came  before  the  public  in  an  edition  of 
Hakiuyt.  *^6  e^Sht  decades  of  Peter  Martyr's  De  Orhe  Novo 
which  he  printed  at  Paris  in  1587,  he  added  a  map 
bearing  the  initials  »F.  G."  This  map  may  be  supposed  to 
embody  the  conclusions  wliic-h  Hakluyt  had  reached  after  his 
years  of  co  lecting  material.  He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  already 
reviewed  the  field  in  his  Westen>e  Plantlnr,^  ,vhere  he  had 
adopted  the  Mercator  theory  of  the  access  by  the  Ottawa  to 
the_great  fresh-water  lake  of  tlie  Indian  tales." 

Jacques  Noel,  a  grand-nephew  of  Cartier,  writing  from  St. 

•        Malo  in  1587,  refers  to  this  F.  G.  map  of  Hakluyt  as 

putting  down  -  the  great  lake  "  of  Canada  much  too 


Cartier'a 
maps 


HAKLUYT  AND   ORTELIUS.  73 

"^    whioh  T  "'?^'  '\  ^'"  i"  accordance  with  one  of  Cartier's  maps 
which  he  professed  to  have.     This  Noel  had  been  in  the  emni 
try,  and  reported  the  Indians  as  saying  that  the  grert    L  was 
ten  days  above  the  rapids  (near  Montreal).     He  h^  been  a 

Inlto  "h  TT'  *'^";  ^^  '^  •"  '''  -^'^^^  ^^tit^de         '' 
nil     X   :      ^    ^^^  ^^^  -'^'^'"^^  ^^■^^li"^'  «^rough  a  relative 

pubiish  a  map  of  the  region  north  of  Mexico  and  to  °'"'"'"- 
wards  the  Arctic  seas.  Ortelius  signified  his  willingness  to  do  so 
J  Halduyt  would  furnish  the  data.  In  the  same  /ea  1  e  t: 
hsh  geographer  wrote  to  Ortelius  at  Antwerp,  ur  Jng  .h^  if 
made  a  new  map,  to  insert  "  the  strait  of  the  Thrte  Broth  i^s  in 
ts  proper  place,  as  there  is  still  hope  of  discovering  tome 
<lay,  and  we  may  by  placing  it  in  the  map  remove  tlfe  error  of 

XiZ:^T  "  ^^'^-  '^  r  '-'''^ ''' ''  - — 

«  F,lf      ?  •'  ^"'^"^I'-'^^y^^ff  ^Irawing  that  he   considered   the 
I4etum  trmm  fratrum  "  to  be  in  latitude  70°  north 

cteractei  U  the  rep.)rts  or  plots  of  returned  navigators.     Mer- 
cator  comphrnents  Ortelius  on  his  soberness  in  using  such  p  o 
an.]  complains  tl,.t  geographical  truth  is  much  cLrupted  by 
map^nakers,  and  tfc.t  those  of  Italy  are  specially  bad  ^ 

The  maps  that  su..ceeded,  down  to  the  time  when  Champlain 

a^i  litrt'Tr^'^  '^^ '''''  r'^^  «^  '''^  ^''  l™: 

added  little  to  the  corK^pt,ons  already  mastered  by  the  chief 
cartographers.  The  idea  ^  th.  first  explorers  tha'tA^n  "f 
was  but  the  eastern  limits  ^  A.ia,  reviled  by  Schoner  ai  d 
Franciscus  Monachus  before  1530,  may  be  said  to  have  van 

:^t  a587  'TcTo^'"'^  '"■  ^  "^'^^^  ^^  ^'y^^^^^  «f  --  tH^ 
belfef  ^  ''  ""'  ""^  '^'  ^^''''  ^""P«  *«  ^«ld  to  the 


to 


n.n^;  J,       '  •r.^"^^t'^«  geography  was  forming  and  di^^,,- 

peanng  with  an  obvious  tendency  to  a  true  conception  of  the 
physical  realitios  of  the  problems,  tlere  was  scarcely 
any  attem])t  made  to  help  solve  the  qi  (.stio.i  by  explo-  or..'^:! 
ration.    There  was  indeed  a  continuance  of  the  fishin^r  *'""• 

u  likely  the  English  may  have  participated   in  the  bu.ness. 
buch  fishermen  doubtless  ran  into  the  inlets  near  the  -ulf  to 


i    il 


74 


CARTOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS,   15^2-1603. 


dry  their  fish  and  barter  trinkets  with  the  natives  for  wah-us 
tusks  ;  but  we  find  no  record  for  many  years  of  any  one  turnin- 
the  pouit  of  Gaspe  and  going  uj)  the  river.     Tlxere  was  at  the 
sanie  time  no  official  patronage  of  exploration.      The  politics 
of  J  ranee  were  far  too  unquiet.     Henry  II.  had  as  mucn  as  he 
could  do  to  maintain  his  struggles  with  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II. 
St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines  carried  French  chivalry  down  to 
the  dust.     The  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  the  brief  rei- n 
of  Francis  I.,  the  machinations  of  Catharine  de'  Medici  and 
the  supremacy  of  the  Guises,  kept  attention  too  constantly  upon 
domestic  hazards  to  permit  tl.    government  to  glance  across  the 
sea.     All  efforts  under  Charles  IX.  to  secure  internal  peace 
were  but  transient.     Every  interval  of  truce  between  the  rival 
religions  only  gave  opportunities  for   new  conspiracies.      The 
baleful  night  of  St.  Bartholomew  saw  thirty  thousand  Huguenots 
plunged  into  agony  and  death.     The  wars  of  the  League  which 
followed  were  but  a  prolonged  combat  for  Huguenot  existence. 
Henry  III.,  during  fifteen  years  of  blood,  played  fast  and  loose 
with  both  sides.     Henry  IV.  fought    at  Arques    and  Ivry  to 
preserve  his  crown,  and  abjured  his  faith  in  the  end  as  a  bet- 
ter policy  to  the   same  end.     At  last  these  tumultuous  years 
yieided    to  the  promuigation  of   the  famous  edict  at   Nantes 
(April  15,  1598),  and  in  the  rest  whicii  came  later  the  times 
grew  ripe  for  new  enterprises  beyond  the  sea. 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  to  the  labors  of  Hakluyt  and  ]^a- 
musio  during  these  sixty  years  that  we  owe  a  large  i)art  of  the 
current  knowledge  of  what  were  then   the  last  official  expedi- 
tions to  Canada.     That  jirivate  enterprise  did  not  cease  to  con- 
nect the  French  ports  with  the  fishery  and  trade  of  the  gulf  and 
Its  neighboring  ports  is  indeed  certain,  though  Garneau  speaks 
ot  this  interval  as  that  of  a  temporary  abandonment  of  Canada 
Gosselin  and  other  later  investigators  have  found  entries  made 
of  numerous  local  outfits  for  voyages  from  Honfleur  and  other 
harbors.     Such  mariners  never,  however,  so  far  as  we  know 
contemplated  the  making  of  discoveries.      Old  fisliermen  arJ 
noted   as    having  grown  gray   in  forty   years'    service  on  tlie 
coast ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  during  some  seasons 
as  many  as  three   or   four   hundred  fishing-crafts   may  have 
dii)ped  to  their  anchors  heivabouts,  and  half  of  them  French 
Some  of  them  added  tlie  pursuit  of  trade,  and  chased  the  wal- 


i*  ",  ft 


LA  ROCHE  AND   CARTIEIi'S  HEIRS. 


rus 


76 

ru-s.     Breton  babies  grew  to  know  the  c  unning-  skill  which  in 
leisure  hours  wa.  bestowed  by  these  muriners^on  the  ^o  ;  t  • 
fles  which  anjused  their  households.      Norman  maide.s  were 
decked  with  the  fur  which  their  brothers  had  secureolfr  n" 

Phihp  of  Spain,  that  from  as  far  south  as  the  Potomac   Indian 
canoes   crawled   no..hward   along   the   coast,   till   lyfotd 
Irenchnaenintie  Newfoundland  waters  to  buy  their  petX 
Bx-eard  has  of  late,  in  his  Marine  JVonnande,  thrown  conskW 

no  evidence  of  a  customary  passing  into  the  great  river 

Once,  indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  the  French  monarch,  who  had 
occasionally  sent  an  armed  vessel  to  protect  his  sub- 
jects m  this  region  against  the  English,  Spanish,  and  ^^^^■'''' 
Portuguese,  awoke  to  the  opportunities  tha^  were  passing ;  and 
m  1577  he  commissioned  Troilus  du  Mesgone^,  JvLqui!  de  la 
Roche,  to  lead  a  colony  to  Canada,  and  the  project  coiumanded 

ct^n  jT  it  T^-!^«^  ^-n,  ken,  and  LiLux 
Captain  J.  Carleill,  writing  m  1583,  in  his  J^ntended  Voyaae 
to  Arnenca^  tells  us  that  the  French  were  trying  to  oven  ome 
he  distrust  of  the  Indians,  which  the  kidijppfng  explo  .so 
Cartier  had  implanted.  Whether  any  such  fear  of  the  native 
animosity  stood  in  the  way  of  La  Roche's  enterprise  or  no^^ 
not  evident;  but  certain  it  is  that  he  did  not  sai  ,  and  the  k  ng 
remained  without  a  representative  on  the  St.  Lalrence      Til 

the  heirs  of  Cartier  for  his  unrewarded  services,  a  charter  to 
Wo  of  tha  navigator's  nephews,  Etienne  Charton  and  Jacou  ! 
No  1,  in  which  he  assigned  to  them  for  twelve  years  the  Xh 
to  trade  for  furs  and  to  work  mines,  with  the  privilege  of  a 
commercial  company.  The  grant  was  made  partly  to  enable  he 
heirs  to  carry  out  Cartier's  injunctions  to  his  dLendan  no 
to  abandon  the  country  of  Canada. 

Such  reserved  privileges  were  a  blow  to  the  merchants  of  St. 

t^^  mon         "•'        I  ''"  '*''"*""  ^^'  *^^°  ^'■'^*-  P-liarnent  to 
he  monopoly  m  such  a  way  that  the  k;ug  r  -  md  it  pnident  to 

rescind  the  chjirter,  except  so  far  as  to  alL,w  minii/at  Cap  de 

Conjugon.     xVo  one  knows  where  that  cape  was,  or  that  aw 

^  was  done  there.     So  a  second  royal  pr  ject  came  Z 


76 


f 


1;^ 


I* 

If'r 


if! 


CARTOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS,   15l^-iQ03, 


.of  J'  ^f  *''  '^  ''^^  ^''^  ^y^V^i^^^^or.  that  really 

got  off  had  never  started.     A  few  years  later,  La  Roche,  who 

^  had  had  much  tribulation  since  his  last  luckless  effort 

was  commissioned  (January  12,  1590)  to  lead  once 

more  a  colony  to  the  St.  Lawrence.     By  this  act  that  kt  "  e 

vived  the  powers  which  Francis  L  had  conferred  on  iWrvI 

Chartering  two  vessels  and,  in  default  of  better  colonists  fill 

mg  them  with  conv  cts,  La  Roche  saUed  west  and  mad    SaWe 

Island;     feuch  portion  of  his  company  as  he  did  not  need  while 

exploring  for  a  s  te,  he  landed  on  this  desert  .pot,  not  wi^t 

raising  the  suspicion  that  he  did  not  dare  to  lai  d  them  o     I 

mainland,  for  fear  of   their  deserting  him.     While  se^h W 

for  a  place  to  settle,  heavy  gales  blew  his  exploring  ships  ou    o 

sea  and  back  to  France.     Those  whom  he^had  Abandoned  I 

babe  Island  were  not  rescued  till  1G03,  when  twelve  had  died 

Ihis  IS  the  last  scene  of  that  interval  M^hich  we  have  been 

considering;  but  m  the  near  future  otlior  spirits  w^ere  to  ani^ 

mate  ]\ew  Fi-ance,  in  tho  persons  of  rontprav^-,  Champlain,  and 

their  associates,  and  a  new  period  of  exploration  was  to  begin 


r;  B  i; 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ABORTIVE   ATTEMPTS   AT   COLONIZATION. 

1600-1607. 

It  was  in  the  person  of  Francois  Grave -who  is  usually 
called  Pontgravd  or  Dupont  Grave,  for  he  was  Sieur 
dulont  — that  France  at  last  undertook  the  coloni-  ''''"'^'■'''• 
zatum  of  Canada      Pontgrave   was  a  trading  nuiriner  of    St. 
Malo.     He  had  already,  during  his  voyaging,  ascended  the  St. 
Lawrenee  as  far  as  Three  liivers.     Being  now  desirous  to  back 
a  petition  which  he  had  rendered  for  tlie  privilege  of  trading, 
tor  furs  m  Canada,  he  sought  the  patronage  of  a  rich  Ilonlieur 
merchant,  1  lerre  Chauvin,  seigneur  of  Tontuit.     This 
person  was  a  man  of  consideration  and  good  connec-  ""'"""""• 
tions.    He  was  a  Calvinist,  and  had  lived'in  Dieppe  at  one  time. 
It  wa.  even  =u^rred  that  Henry  IV.  had  rewarded  him  with  a 
patent  of  nobility  for  his  loyalty.     His  standing  in  the  kiiU' 
eyes  was   not,   it    would  seem,   an    uncertain    dement   in   the 
chances  of  royal  support  when   he  allied  himself  witli  Pont- 
grave  to  promote   the.n.     But   Pontgrave  was  not  without  a 
men    of  his  own,  for  he  was  no  stranger  in  the  new  eoimtry, 
and  he  was  not  unfitted  to  be  the  agent  of   the  monarch  in 
strengthennig    he  French  clain^  in   that  region,  to  which  the 
royal  will  was  by  no  means  averse.     Looking  for  further  eapi- 
alto  put  their  purpose  beyond  financial  embarrassment,  the 
hvo  partners  found  a  willing  contributor  in  Pierre  du 
Guast,  Sieur  de  Monts.     It  was  given  oui  that  five  ^'^ 
hundred  men  would  be  carried  to  Tadoussac,  and  that  a  fort 
would  be  built  at  that  point.     This  was  a  footing  which  mi^^h 
much  conduce  to  the  establishment  of  a  government,  and  the 
royal  concession  readily  followed.  »       u  lue 

The  plan  was  no  sooner  developed  than  it  created  a  jealousy 
similar  to  that  which  followed  the  combination  of  M  and 


II 


^M 


78 


ATrE^fPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,   1000-1607. 


I 


Chaton,  ten  years  or  more  earlier.     The  citizerm  nf  qf    \r  ^ 

to  the  throne,  but  with  no  effect.    Acconlingly  Pontlra  3 
lus  associates  went  on  without  interruption  in  pipari^T/Zfor  X 

baxked.     The  five  hunched  nxen  which  were  pro.nised  dwindled 
to  a    ingle  hundred,  and  Chauvin  seen.s  to  have  been  re 
s^le  for   Ins,  as  he  was  for  all  matters  which  cou  d  be  Lje" 
to  demand  less  expenditure  and  more  profit. 

without  disaster.     Here  the  scene  from  the  little  ves- 


!1°~«''''^'  1      .1.       .  — "  ''v.cnc  xium  cue  little  VPS- 

......     -'»"''■»«  ...  the  roadstead  was  not  a  very  attractTve 

one  to  aiivhnrlir  Ko„<- 1   •  ,        '^  v-uivc 


«ac,  1000. 


"  "-^   "CIO  injL  u  very  at 

the  ,f,.et  r'f     T      i^  ^"'"  "^  ■""'"■"S  •■•  settle„,ent.     Over 
th*  streteh  of  waters  there  was  nothing-  but  a  dim,  foggy  dTs 
tance,  for  the  potent  river  covers  in  its  breadth  at    hiSn  1 
core  of  „n  es,  as  it  moves  on  to  the  gulf.     Silvery  po'Zse! 
n.ng hng  wth   he  white  erests  of  the  vexed  waves  were  auZt 

hl'llr  tl         "f  '^=""'^  '°  "-"^  '°-*"S  to  rest  u  on 
throughou    the  monotonous  waste.     A  rocky  point  stretchW 
to  the  southwest  formed  a  bay,  where  tradinj,^vLels  could  fi^f 
an  anchorage.    From  far  „p  the  Sagnenay,  i„°  the  deep  shado^t 
of  ,t  lofty  crags,  the  savage  canoeists  conM  come  down  to  bar 
er  their  burdens  of  fur.     The  adjacent  shores  had  no  aspec 
to  aUure  the  agr.cultarist,  and  Pontgrave,  recaUing  the  Xy 
meadows  and  swelling  upland  about  Three  Rivers,  would  much 
rather  have  gone  thither.     Chauvin,  however,  oily  lolT  to 
the  chances  of  trade,  and  he  felt  that  at  the  junction  of  the  e 
two  great  r.vers  there  was  the  better  chance  of  an  erfan.vcfo' 
peltnes.     Accordingly,  here  it  was  determined  to  stay,  a^d  the 
people  were  set  on  .shore.    It  was  not  long  before  a  storrhouse 
was  constvncted  just  by  the  brink  of  the'harbor.     Challa  n 
fonnd  the  bmldmg  standing  eight  years  later,  and  delineat  d 
It  upon  his  map  of  T.idoussac.  "..tated 

fu,?°and""'°t',?r"r.""*  ""'"^ly  to  his  commerce  for 
fms,  and  soon  filled  h,s  ships.  This  done,  he  left  sixteen  men 
to  encounter  the  rigors  of  the  winter,  with  such  protect  on  as 


CffAUVIN  ON   THE  ST.   LAyvnENCE.  70 

neiglibonng  Lu bans  dul  not  prevent  most  of  this  forlorn  litt  e 
company  dying  before  the  coming  of  sprincr 

thev"J''l  ''*""'  f  ^^'T'''  "'"^  *^'^'  "tl^^^^  I'-^a^^^^-^  to  France 
they  made  some  sliow  of  their  trafficking  gains  •  but 

tliere  was  httle  assurance  to  be  given  of  ^t  i.ermanen     ^™-"" 
colonization,  or  of    results  from  discoverv      H-.d 
of  death  among  those  who   had  bee:^  Strr 
pected,  the  satisfaction  in  the  results  would  have  been  'till  less. 


TADOUSSAC  (after  Cliauiplain). 


Precisely  what  there  was  to  prevent  Chauvin  himself  the 
next  year  (1001)  from    going  to  the  St.  Lawrence 
.  oes  not  appear;  but  he  is  known  to  have  dispatched   "'"'■ 
thither  one  of  his  ships  with  similar  commercial  success.     In 
April,  1602,  he  himself  made  a  voyage  in  command  of 
tvvo  barks,  and  having  had  four  months'  trading-  at  ''*"" 
Tadoussac,  he  returned  to   Ilonfleur   in   October  to  find  the 
merchants  of  St.  Malo  still  using  every  device  to  deprive  him 
ot    the  continuance  of    his  privileges.     Chauvin  contrived  to 


J 


til, 
til 


80 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,    imo^Um. 


I 


;  ";^"  ';:;"""«»- ^-;>!  tl.o  ki„.  and  succee.led  (  Docen.. 
bci  8  lOOJ)  m  having  l„s  cmcvs.siuns  ivuffinne,!.  Jiut  the 
mut  or  d„  not  rest  there,  and  pending  a  still  further  decision, 
all  H-ench  vessels  were  forbidden  to  proeeed  beyond  (Jaspe. 
xm.  J^  '»^'"  /^r-"'^'l>  (100;{;  eanie,  the  king  had  reached  a 

nf  ^f  ^;Y""""r^'""  '^  '*'"'^  *"  ^'""^'''^  <^''l't'"»  Coulond.ier 
ot  ht.  Male,  either  separately  or  in  conjuncti<,n  with  I'ont- 
gravc  an.l  the  Sieur  IV'vert,  in  a  single  vessel,  for  tra.le  and 
discovery,  but  only  for  one  season.     By  this  time  Chanvin  had 

cKeV"      M         ''"*^  '^'"^''""  '^"  ^'^»'^"t^'«'  sncceeding  to  the   priv- 
Ueges,    entered    into    a    partner.sJiip    for   prosecuting- 
Canadian   enterprise  with   sundry   merchants   of   Kouen   and 
ot.  Malo. 

It  was  a  good  deal  to  Henry  IV.  that  De  Chastes  was  stron- 
HI  the  faith  to  winch  the  king  had  been  converted ;  and  it  was 
a  good  deal  niore  to  the  king  that  this  governor  of  Dieppe  had 
been  one  of  the  first  to  give  him  allegiance.  These  uere  tw.. 
very  good  reasons  why  De  Chastes  had  little  difHculty  in  o.,t- 
tuig  the  new  patent  to  establish  himself  in  Canada. 

At  this  point  the  most  commanding  ^,.,,,.^  {„  the  early  his- 

c?X:ln.  ;v  1  'S  '''""'''  "1*""  *''"  scene, -Samuel  de 
<^liani])lain.  Those  who  have  searched  the  archives  of 
iirouage  seeking  to  find  a  date  for  his  birth,  have  for  good 
reason  always  turned  to  about  the  year  1570;  but  they  have 
u  ways  boked  m  vain.  If  the  hero,  in  later  years,  was  reticen' 
about  his  birth,  we  do  not  find  him  more  helpful  n  oth  n  p. " 
ticularsof  Ins  childhood.  The  .authority  s  perhapV  1  ni  llv 
n.revocable  wind,  makes  him   the  son  of',  fishe     T;  t^  ^ 

inei  and  the  family  was  respectable  enough  to  secure  honorable 
mention  in  contemporary  documents.  The  Abbe  Faillon  is  not 
::^V:a:T''\  that  the  Wiame  Samuel,  uiicoim:: 
among  C  itholics  and  usual  with  Protestants,  may  indicate  th-it 
Champlain  was  born  in  a  Huguenot  household.\t  is  cert, 
that  Brouage^  the  place  of  his  birth,  was  <pute  within  the  d!l 
Perhaps  ^*  "^*^  I  rotestant  influence  that  surrounded  La  Ro- 
Prot„     chelle      The  suspicion  is  not  a  welcome  one  to  his 

name,  Antome,  and  his  mother's.  Marguerite,  as  being  conspicu- 


CHAMI'LAIN'S    YOUTH. 


ously  of  Catholic  savor, 
ford,  does  not  admif  ( 
I'rotestant. 

Tlio  salt-works  of 
naturally  attracted 


81 


i/in  latest  Canadian  historian,  Kings. 
I  doul,t  that  Chaniplain  was  born  a 

',  Ion 


'WA'Si 


1'."-   who  were 


ig  the  source  o! 


its  prosperity, 
of  the  -now  „„,.1,1.  This  ra'e'^^ItUc'  „!n"  '  '"  ,  ^^^^ 
"t  tl,at  danng  ,  ,d„«t,y  „„  tho»e  di.„„„t  »!.„.,,  tV™!,'  ta  Z 


CHA.MPIAIX. 
[After  Moncarnot  ill  the  Liival  CAamyVr/m.] 

minds  of  its  people.     Amid  such  influences  the  infant  Cham- 
plain  grew  nito  youth  and  glided  on  into  maturity. 

here  was  oec.ision  in  the  preceding  chapter  to  picture  the 
maitia  and  pohtical  turmoil  of  France  in  these  latter  years  of 
the  sixteen  h  century.  It  was  shown  to  have  withdrawn  atten- 
tion from  those  fields  of  discovery  to  which  Cartierhad  led  the 
way.  It  was  among  these  scenes  that  Chaniplain  passed  his 
early  manhood  seasoning  his  formative  years  in  the  restraints 
and  activities  of  the  camp,  when  not  at  home.     At  other  times 


,  i-t 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,   1000-1607 


he  was  accustomed  to  look  nnf  w.'fk  „   i 

Bay  of  Biscay,  »ugge.i™  Jl; teVZlrjC  *] 

dangerous  in  seamanship.  ^  ^"^ 

Speaking  of  life  at  sea,  Champlain  later  said:  "I  was  ad 
dieted  to  It  m  mvparlv  VOO..C  „    ixl         ,        ""»«.      x  was  ad- 
met  its  perils  ^IT^  ^       '  ^"/^  *^'^"-''  "^^  ^^"^^  ^^^^  I  have 
wft /fL  r        ?         "''^"  ^^*'^  °"  *^^«  ^^^-^^t^  of  New  France 

tTe   holv   rl  1  "'"f^  '.''  "^-^  ^^  ^^^-«  ^^1^  *«  protect  tTe"' 
tiie   lioly   Catholic   relijrion "     Wlinfo,.^,.   +i  v  •  ! 

The  peace  of  Vervi„»  in  1598  had  brought  all  France  into 

peaceful  sub,ect.„n  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  aJJi  Champlain    „hfa 

oS..         "T  y  "'  <'"''''«™»»'er  in  the  army,  had  been  in  the 

last  movements  which  suppressed   the  opposition  i^ 

Brmany     A  year  later  (1599),  he  went  to  Spain  be tr-  Tf 

J^eague.     Wnde  m  the  penmsala  he  had  been  placed  as  an  J 

rtTwcirilr.'  '"T"""  »*  -^  -*  *"'  vLels'fo™a- 
Meet  which  the  Spanish  government  dispatched  to  their  West 
Indian  possessions.     He  was  absent  on  thi.  service  for  Ire 
than  two  years     It  does  not  eoncen.  our  present  puposfto 
follow  hin.  in  his  strange  experiences  in  the^se  southerrtert^ 
;,uj.w...   They  are  aU  set  forth  in  a  manuscript  written  by 
his  own  hand,  and  embeUished  with  passable  colored 
drawings,  whicn  of  late  years  has  been  added  to  the  unexam 
pled  Americana  m  the  Carter-Brown  Library  at   ProvWencT 
Ehode  Island.     Once,  thirty  years  ago,  when  this  man  , script 

Coront  Id  r""!'  ""^  "'*'"y'  ^""'-^'y  published  a  tZs! 
lation  ot  It,  and  twenty  years  ago  the  Laval  Universitv  in  thBi,. 

sumptnous  edition  of  Champlain's  wi.itings,  prinS'  he  fl 

time  the  original  tc.xt  and  gave  fa^-similes  of  the  drawing 

rhere  is  one  passage  in  this  little  narrative  which  may"  S 

us  for  .  moment,  since  it  prefigures  Champlain's  concep«„n  ^ 

that  great  northern  passage  to  Cathay,  to  the  finding  !t  wlic* 

thetrhmt  <;;  D    -''"^  '^^  .-«  describing  his  experience  at 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien.     He  says  :  "  Oiie  may  judge  that  if  the 

n;er  which    rises  ,„  the    mountains  and  descends    to  Porto 

to  the  «,ean  on  the  other  side,  and  thus  shorten  the  route  by 


I 


CHAMPLAIN  ON   THE  ST.  LAWRENCE.  83 

more  than  fifteen  hundred  leagues;  and  from  Po.nama  to  the 
btraits  of  i^agellan  would  be  an  island,  and  from  Panama  to 
the  New-iound-lands  would  be  another  island,  so  that  the 
whole  of  America  woidd  be  in  two  islands." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  Champlain,  after  his  revurn  to 
France  from  tins  southern  voyage,  had  made  some  report  of  it 
to  the  king,  m  a  way  to  attract  the   royal   attention.     At  all 
events,  since  De  Chastes  was  much  about  the  court  after  he 
had  got  his  patent  from  the  king,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  m  Its  precincts  a  sturdy  mariner  of  Champlain's  iiZ'''^'' 
experience  would  have  easily  xnade  himself  conspicu-  "'""'"*"• 
ous  to  a  patentee  in  sc^arch  of  a  hardy  coadjutor.     That  Cham- 
plain  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  king  would  seem  to  be 
cei-tam  from  the  fact  that  when  De  Chastes  invited  him  to  join 
the   enterprise,  Champlain  deferred   accepting  till   the   royal 
assent  was  given.    This,  when  given,  was  aceom^nied  by  an  in- 
junction which  made  Champlain  responsible  for  a  report  of  the 
completed  explorations.    Champlain  himself  later  says,  ^'n  dedi- 
cating one  of  Ins  narratives  to  Henry  IV.,  that  he  ;as  com- 
nnssionedbythatkingto  make  the  most  exact  researchesTd 
explorations  m  his  power. 

There  was  much  in  Champlain  to  fit  him  to  becom.  a  pioneer 
m  such  work.  His  person  was  rugged.  His  strength  was 
equal  to  almost  any  physical  task.  His  constitution  did  no 
succumb  to  exposure  either  of  cold  or  heat.  His  senses  were 
keen  and  sharpened  by  experience.  His  spirit  knew  nc.  what 
It  was  to  falter,  when  facing  danger.  Perh'aps  we  must  add  ^ 
even  if  we  do  not  go  to  the  extent  of  the  Abbe  FaiUon-that 
he  enjoyed  a  hunt  too  much  to  be  over-scrupulous  whether  the 
game  was  a  squirrel  or  an  Iroquois. 

oJZri:t  i";?-'""  "^'^^rx^'  ''^"«"^^'  '"'^y  -^^^^ 

on  luarcn  lb,  1003,  in  command  of  Pontgrave,  who 
was    accompanied    by   Champlain    in    the    "  Bonne  fJ«?c,.. 
Renommee,"  while  the  Sieur  Prevert  had  charge  of  "^'■ 
^le  lesser  craft,  the  "  Fran.oise."     The  latter  was  to  stop  at 
GaBpe   while  Pontgrave  went  on  to  Tadoussac.     The  little  Le 
had  a  tedious  passage  of  forty  days.     After  landing,  they  found 
themselves  at  once  mingling  in  the  filthy  revelries  of  a  camp 


I 


n 


J|ii,UIUIJllP|l.lip,l 


mmimmii 


84 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,   1600-1607. 


of  Indians,  who  were  celebrating  a  victory  over  the  Iroquois. 
Keeking  scalps  were  conspicuous  in  the  scene,  and  they  were 
ju  Tadous-  the  first  reminders  of  savage  warfare  which  Champlain 
had  seen,  —  a  warfare  that  a  few  years  later  he  was 
to  turn  upon  himself,  and  which  was  to  become  a  heritage  for 
his  successors. 

But  these  horrors  did  not  long  divert  him  from  a  purpose 
which  ne  was  so  strenuously  to  pursue  for  thirty  years.  On 
Goe«,,pthe  '^""'^  ^^'^'®  ^*''^^*'^d  *o  explore  the  Saguenay.  It  is 
!SrS.     ""*  l^^^""  wJ^at  knowledge  of  this  forbidding  stream 

^f^^^e<^"  handed  down  to  him  from  earlier  adventurers. 
Cartier  had  passed  it  by,  and  it  is  not  quite  sure  how  far  its  ap- 
pearance m  one  of  Allefonsce's  rude  charts  indicates  a  personal 
knowledge  of  it.  It  does  not  seem  certain  that  the  traders  who 
had  perhaps  been  up  and  down  the  main  river  of  late  years  had 
ever  tempted  the  gloomy  depths  of  the  Saguenay.  If  they  did 
they  have  left  no  record  of  it.  Champlain  went  up  the  stream! 
perhaps  thirty  or  forty  miles,  but  not  far  enough  to  determine 
ot  his  own  knowledge  its  geographical  relations. 

The  Indians  contrived  to  let  him  know  that  the  Sa"-uenay 
flowed  out  of  a  large  lake,  —the  modern  St.  John,  —  and  that 
there  was  an  affluent  water-system  above  it.     It  would  take  a 
canoe  ten  days,  the  Indians  said,  to-  make  the  trip  back  to 
ladoussac  from  these  upper  waters.     There  were  tribes  about 
the  lake  who  had  told  these  informants  that  beyond  the  divide, 
still  farther  to  the  north,  lay  a  great   salt   sea.     Champlain 
grasped  the  idea  of  a  gulf  stretching  south  from  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  and  divined  the  bay  that  Hudson  was  yet  to  make  evi- 
dent, and  many  years  later  he  was  cruelly  deceived  in  an  attempt 
to  hnd  It  by  another  route. 

In  a  week^s  time  Champlain  was  back  at  Tadoussac,  and  on 
Goesupthe  '^""^^  ^^'  '-^^companied  by  Pontgrave,  he  started  up  the 
St  Law-  bt.  Lawrence  in  a  small  bark,  taking  with  him  a 
boat  for  use  in  shallow  waters.  On  the  23d,  he  ob- 
served the  cataract  which  drops  in  feathery  confusion  from  its 
upper  level,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Montmorency,  which  is 
so  familiar  to  the  modern  tourist.  He  saw  the  lofty  promon- 
tory of  Quebec,  and  supposed,  as  he  went  on,  that  he  was  pass- 
mg  beyond  the  goal  of  Cartier's  explorations.  At  Three 
Kivers  he  remarked,  as  Pontgrave  had,  how  fit  a  place  it  was 


CHAMPLAIN  AT  MONTREAL.  86 

for  a  settlement.     On  the  29th,  he  was  skimming  the  varieo-ated 
surface  of  a  broadened  expanse  of  the  river,  and  as   it  was 
fet.  feters  day,  he  applied  that  enduring  name  to  the  lake 
Here  he  was  for  a  while  arrested  at  the  mouth  of  a 
tributary  on  the  south  side,  where  he  found  an  encamp-  ^°''"  ^'"*''' 
ment  of  Algonquins,  gathering  for  an  incursion  up  the  stream 
into  the  country  of  their  enemies,  the  Iroquois.     In  attemptii^o^ 
to  ascei..  this  river,  the  rapids  of  Chambly  checked  his  procu- 
ress.    He  learned  from  the  Indians  that  the  river  flowed  from 
a  large  lake,  and  that  there  was  a  smaller  sheet  still  beyond 
From  these  southern   heads   of   the   water  a   portage   led   to 
another  river,  -  the  Hudson,  -  by  which  the  voyager  would  be 
carried  south  towards  what  Champlain  supposed  must  be  the 
coast  of  Florida,  taking  that  name,  as  it  was  then  understood, 
as  covering  a  region  stretching  far  north  of  the  modern  penin- 
sula, until   It   reached   the   territory  claimed   by  the  French 
Five  years  later,  Champlain  was  to  make  this  more  apparent, 
with  the  mysteries  of  the  distant  mountains,  which  he  saw 
bounding  the  distance  on  either  hand,  unsolved. 

Reaching  once  more  the  main  river,  these  venturesome  French 
still  breasted  the  current  and  made  a  way  among  the  devious 
channels  to  the  island  where  Montreal  now  stands, 
and  looked  upon  its  sentinel  mountain.     They  were  '^'^°""'«*'- 
stopped  at  the  Sault  St.  Louis,  —  the  Lachine  Eapids,-and 
Champlain   tried  m  vain  to  get   round   them   by  a  portage, 
finding  that  he  was  at  the  end  of  his  course,  he  endeavored  to 
deduce  from  the  bewildering  statements  of  the  savages  some 
notion  of  what  lay  above  that  long  plunge  of  waters.     He  got 
in  this  way  a  tolerably  clear  conception  of  at  least  a  portton 
of  the  waters,  which  some  years  later  he  was  to  follow.    His 
dusky  informants  took  him  in  imagination  up  a  large  affluent 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  coming  from  the  west,  and  they  told  him 
that  it  threaded  the  country  of  the  Algonquins,  as  later,  under 
the  name  of  the  Ottawa,  he  found  it  to  do.     Following  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  passing  rapids  and  expansions  of  the  stream, 
he  was  told  he  could  reach  a  large  body  of  water,  fed 
through  a  channel,  blocked  by  a  cataract,  which  flowed  weT™ 
out  of  a  salubrious  lake.    A  river  flowed  into  this  lake  """"'• 
at  its  farther  end,  through  which  the  boatman  stemming  the 
current  could  push  his  skiff  eventually  into  an  immense  sea  of 


I 
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I 


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M&i4aMMiai&i»: 


86 


ATTEMPTS  AT   COLONIZATION,   1600-1607. 


salt  water.  This  last  particular  the  Indians  were  frank  enough 
to  acknowledge  was  derived  from  the  reports  of  remoter  tribes, 
since  they  themselves  had  never  seen  this  ominous  sea. 

This  hydrography  is  not  difficult  to  follow.  The  fancy  of 
Champlain  was  led  in  the  description  along  the  waters  of 
Ontario,  which  he  was  yet  to  know  by  experience;  up  the 
Niagara,  whose  falls  he  never  saw,  and  whose  magnitude  he 
failed  to  comprehend  to  the  last ;  along  Lak<;  Erie,  of  which 
also  he  remained  through  life  in  much  ignorance ;  thence  by 
the  Detroit  Kiver  to  Lake  Huron,  which  he  learned  later  to 
know  in  that  portion  of  it  caUed  the  Georgian  Bay.  His  subse- 
quent experience  (1615)  certainly  showed  him  that  it  was  not 
salt ;  but  in  his  present  uncertainty  he  could  but  think,  as  every 
Canadian  explorer  in  those  days  thought,  that  the  great  western 
Sea  of  Cathay  lay  almost  within  his  ken.  He  never  quite 
divested  himself  of  his  hope  to  see  it. 

Chamjilain  had  at  this  time,  as  above  intimated,  derived  from 
the  accounts  of  the  Indians  a  very  inadequate  notion  of  the 
torrent  which  plunges  at  Niagara.     He  speaks  of  it  as  having 
a  volume  not  large  enough  for  the  main  outflow  of  a  lake,  and 
was  therefore  fo-ced  to  argue  that  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie 
flowed  for  the  most  part  in  another  direction,  perhaps  to  the 
south.     The  description  presented  to  him  by  the  Indians,  as 
recorded  in  his  Sauvacjes,  is  far  from  clear ;  but  it  seems  to 
indicate  that  Lake  Huron  delivered  the  great  body  of  its  water 
through  some  other  channel  than  Lake  Erie,  and  that  it  found 
its  way  thereby  into  the  St.  Lawrence.     There  is  an  early  map, 
made  indeed  at  a  somewhat  later  day.  which  interprets  this 
belief  by  making  the  Ottawa  this   alternative  channel.     The 
geologist  will  observe   that   its  configuration  is  curiously  likt. 
what  is  now  known  to  have  been  the  water-shed  of  the  region 
after  the  melting  of  the  great  glacier.     Champlain  was  him^self 
to  discover  that  this  course  of  the  Ottawa  was  far  from  beino- 
uninterrupted.  ° 

With  such  vague  glimpses  of  the  unknown  west,  Champlain 
and  his  party  returned  to  Tadoussac,  not  without  hoping  that 
the  salt  water  reported  to  them  could  one  day  be  reached  on  the 
way  to  China. 

It  is  one  of  the  striking  features  in  the  accounts  which  we 
have  of  these  early  days  of  exploration  that  the  frequenting  of 


THE  LOWER  ST.  LAWRENCE  87 

a  coast  for  traffic  or  fishing  counts  so  little  in  contributing  geo- 
graphical knowledge.  It  can  hardly  be  possible  that  no  more 
^vas  observed  by  such  mercantile  adventurers  than  was  put  on 

viz  :'  ^  !  .?''  "^vf  ^'^'T  ^'"^  ^  ^^^^*  ^^^^'^  «f  serviceable 
value  m  what  they  did,  or  the  official  explorers  would  not  have 


sought  so  often  to  cover  the  same  fields.  The  shores  of  the 
l.ower  ht.  Lawrence  and  the  margins  of  the  gulf  had  been 
tor  nearly  a  century  at  least  the  haunts  of  Normans,  Bretons 
and  Biscayans,  but  Champlain  felt  that  his  record  for  the 
kmg  would  not  be  what  it  ought  to  be  unless  his  official  eve 
could  survey  those  shores.  We  accordingly  find  him,  shortly 
after  his  return  to  Tadoussac,  making  ready  to  follow  the  sin- 


i 


!  .1 


■HP 


'  1 
i 


'^^""'^mmmm 


mm 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,   1600-1607. 
uosities  of   these  lower   river   banks  towards   the  gulf.     It  is 
Lower  St.      "^^   *'"^'  purpose  HOW  to  givc  his  experience  in  this 
^7oV^a'      ^"^^  '"  detail.     He  has  set  them  down  in  his  Sau- 
vuf/es. 
Keturning  to  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay,  Champlain  found 
the  ships  laden  with  the  furs  gathered  in  his  absence,  and  the 
expedition  was  ready  for  the  homeward  voyage.     They  had  em- 
Return  voy    ^'^^'^^^^l  scveral  nativcs,  and  the  weary  voyagers  daily 
berliuef'"'  beguiled  themselves  with  Indian  grammar  and  vocab- 
ulary.    On  the  2d  of  September  (1603),  the  stag- 
gering vessels  were  thumping  their  prows  against  head  seas  off 
Cape  Race,  and  on  the  20th  they  ran  into  the  basin  of  Havre 
Amyarde       ^^®   Gracc.     Here   it  was   soon   learned  that,  a  few 
cimetee        months  before,  their  chief  i)atron,  Amyar  de  Chastes, 
had  died,  and  the  colonization  scheme  on  which  they 
had  returned  to  make  report  was  left  without  a  sponsor. 

Pending  a  new  movement,  Champlain  was  busy  in  preparin"- 
a  map  of  the  region,  as  best  he  could,  from  observation  and  the 
Champlain     ^^^^^^^  testimony,  and  in  putting  his  notes  in  shape 
makes  a        for  a  rcport  to  the  king.    Just  what  the  map  which  he 
made  was,  we  are  not  informed,  for  it  was  not  pub- 
lished with  his  report.     There  could  have  been  little  in  earlier 
cartography  to  help  him  beyond  the  description  of  Cartier.     It 
is  indeed  possible  that  he  might  have  known  the  maps  of  that 
navigator  and  of  Allefonsce.      Current  published  maps  gave 
nothing  but  varying  impressions  of  Cartier 's  results,  as  has 
been  shown  in  the  previous  chapter.     The  world  just  at  this 
time  was  getting  the  same  vague  sort  oi'  treatment  of  this  car- 
tographical theme  in  such  publications  as  the  combination  Mer- 
cator  Atlas  of  1602,  or  in  such  special  chance  issues 
as  the  Reladones  of  Botero,  only  just  published  at 
Valladolid.     There  was  much  in  all  this  that  would 
hardly  comport  with  Champlain's  newer  knowledge.      But  if 
the  map  fails  us,  we  have  the  text  of  Champlain's  report,  pub- 
De«  Sou-       lished  with  the  royal  sanction  as  JDes  ScmvcK/es,  late 

world  the  chance  to  measure  his  powers  of  observation.  The 
narrative  was  devoted  to  the  country,  its  geography  and  phy. 
sical  condition,  its  products,  its  natives^  and  its  promises.  One 
must  determine  from  the  way  in  which  the   book   has  disap- 


Contcm- 

porary 

maps. 


PONTGRAVE  AND  CHAMPLAIN. 


89 


pearecl,  that  either  the  avidity  of  commercial  speculation  or  the 
thumbing  of  the  lovers  of  the  marvelous,  or  both,  has  almost 
deprived  posterity  of  the  record,  for  when  the  Abbe  Laverdiere 
souglit  to  reprint  it  twenty  years  ago,  he  had  to  have  the  copy 
in  the  great  Paris  Library  — .  the  only  one  then  known  to  him  — 
transcribed  for  the  printer.  Its  rarity  is  not  so  great  as  the 
abbe  imagined,  for  there  are  copies  in  more  than  one  American 
library,  and  a  comparison  of  the  copies  in  Harvard  College 
Library  and  the  Carter-Brown  Library  show  that  it  was  set  up 
twice  in  the  same  year,  indicating  unusual  currency. 

The  voyage  of  1603  had  brought  Champlain  and  Pontgrave 
into  cordial  relations,  which  were  never  relaxed.     The 
greater  age   of   that  Malouin  navigator  gave  to  the  Tna'C- 
friendly  feelings  of  Champlain  a  tinge  of  filial  obedi-  ^'*'"' 
ence.     They  were  one  in  the  belief  that  the  great  river  of  Can- 
ada was  a  channel  that  must  be  followed  if  a  New  France  was 
to  arise.     Tadoussac  as  a  goal  was  not  to  their  mind.     Its  for- 
bidding  sterility  gave  no  promise  for  colonization,  and  Cham- 
plain's  heart  was  set   on  dreams  of  colonization  that  he  was 
never  permitted  to  realize  to  their  full  extent. 

Columbus,  at  the  south,  had  accounted  for  the  low  o-rade  of 
peoples  which  he  found  by  supposing  that  he  was  on  "the  out- 
skirts  of  the  East,  among  coast  tribes  less  susceptible  to  the 
lures  of  civilization  than  interior  peoples.  He  argued  that  if 
he  would  find  the  wealth  and  luxury  which  Europeans  dreamed 
of,  he  must  get  at  the  inland  races.  We  know  that  the  Geno- 
ese on  his  last  voyage  was  bending  all  his  energies  to  seek  a 
passage  through  the  barriers  which  he  had  found.  A  hundred 
years  later,  Champlain  reasoned  in  the  same  strain  at  the  north. 
He  felt  that  it  was  a  divergence  from  the  true  field  of  discov- 
ery, when  it  was  apparent  that  the  next  expedition  was  to  pro- 
mote an  examination  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

When  Chauvin  had  overruled  Pontgrave's  preference,  and  had 
forced  the  expedition  of  1603  to  remain  at  Tadoussac,  he  had 
subjected  the  company  to  a  test  of  that  region's  climate  which 
compelled  the  successor  of  De  Chastes  to  make  trial  of  a  more 
salubrious  climate. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  with  much  detail  this  next  west- 
ern venture  of  the  French,  but  there  are  some  of  its  move- 
ments along  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  England  which 


r    '  ' 
«»  . 
1.1 


aimmii-Uk 


Sieiir  de 
Monta, 


90  ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,  1600-1007. 

have  some  bearing  on  the  views  wliich  Champhiin  grew  to  have 
of  the  intermediate  region,  bordering  on  the  great  vjiUev  of  the 
north.  '' 

Henry  IV.  picked  out  the  Sieur  de  Monts  for  a  successor  of 
L>e  ivhastes.     As  this  new  lieutenant  was  a  Protestant,  born  in 
Champlain's  own  province  of  Saintonge,  the  king  had 
a  struggle  to  secure  the  cooperation  of    parliament. 
The  stubborn  monarch  carried  hi.«  point,  and  signed 
iJe  Monts  s  commission  at  Fontainebleau,  November  8  1603 
creating  him  lieutenant-general  of  Canada.     The  new  'leader 
was  directed  to  preserve  in  that  country  the  religious  rights  of 
both  Ca  vinist  and  Catholic.     He  was  to  exercise  jurisdiction 
over  both  banks  of  the  river  of  Canada  and  as  far  south  as  the 
fortieth  degree  of  latitude.     Within  this  range  he  was  to  have 
unchecked  license  to  trade  for  furs,  and  to  that  end,  in  April 
1604,  he  proclaimed  his  privileges  throughout  all  the  seaport, 
oi  f  ranee.  * 

While  the  result  of  the  royal  struggle  with  parliament  was 
Commercial    doubtful,  De  Monts  was  in  liouen,  orcani/ino-  a  com 

company,         ,„„   „•    1  .  '        O  "o  "  «^""i 

i^ruarjio,  meicial  company  among   its   citizens,   which  was   to 
include  also  those  of  Rochelle  and  Saint- Jean-de-Luz. 
1  he  papers  of  this  association  were  signed,  February  10,  1G04 
De  Monts  was  joined  in  Rouen  by  Pontgrave,  and  at  Havre 
de  Lrrace  the   two   found   four  vessels   already  laden  for  the 
voyage.      Pontgrave  stowed  away  as  best  he  could   six  score 
of  artisans  m  the  little  ship  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons, 
which  he  himself  commanded.      De  Monts  took  charge  of  a 
second  ship    and  with  him  were  the  Sieur  de   Poutrincourt, 
l:il^l  Tr, ''''"'''  ''  associated  with  Acadian  exploration, 

,.iam  sail,      and  (Jhamplaui,  who  was  thus  diverted  for  a  while 
from  the  great  river  of  Canada.     The  little  fleet  left 
port  early  in  April,  1G04. 

While  on  this  expedition,  Champlain  passed  along  the  Maine 
coast,  and  gathered  from  the  Indian  descriptions  that  there 
Nonnnbega  was  a  Waterway  along  the  line  of  the  river  of  Norum- 
bega  (Penobscot),  Avhich  was  a  practical  route  for 
canoes  -  if  not  for  larger  craft  -  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
bt.  Lawrence.  He  understood,  according  to  the  popular  notion 
ot  the  physical  possibility,  that  the  divergent  streams  which 
aftorded  the   passage  took  their  rise  in  a  large  lake  midway 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COAST. 


91 


between  the  ocean  and  the  great  river,  and  flowed  north  and 
south.  He  rehearsed  such  views  in  his  edition  of  1618,  while 
m  the  same  book  he  indicates  that  to  make  the  passage  north- 
ward oy  the  hue  of  the  Kennebec  requires  a  portage  of  two 
leagues,  to  reach  the  Chaudiere.  It  was  by  this  route,  it  will 
be  remembered,  that  Amherst  in  1759  endeavored  to  c-onnnuni- 
cate  with  Wolfe,  and  Benedict  Arnok:  in  the  autumn  of  1775 
proceeded  to  attack  Quebec. 

Champlaiii,  following  the  coast,  reached  a  little  later  what  is 
now  known  as  Boston  harbor.  Here  he  perceived  a  „  , 
flow  of  water  from  the  west.  Whether  it  was  the  tide  ''»'"^°° 
which  glides  by  the  present  Point  Allerton,  or  the  current  which 
sweeps  around  the  northerly  end  of  the  Boston  peninsula, 
matters  little.  He  gave  to  this  river  the  family  name  of  De 
Monts,  and  accordingly  on  his  and  on  other  French  maps  the 
stream  bears  the  name  of  Riviere  du  Guast,  -  a  name  which 
did  not  entirely  disappear  from  the  Dutch  and  other  contem- 
porary  maps  till  after  Boston  was  founded  in  1630. 

"This  river  extends,"  says  Champiain,  "toward  the  land  of 
the  liy,quois,  a  nation  which  is  the  constant  foe  of  the  Montagnais, 
who  live  on  the  St  Lawrence."  One  judges  from  this  that  the 
river  of  which  the  Indfans  had  told  him  at  the  Chambly  rapid^ 
and  which  he  thought  ran  towards  Florida,  —in  fact  a  premo- 
nition  of  the  Hudson,  —  was  now  identified  in  his  thought  with 
what  we  in  this  day  know  as  the  Charles,  a  meandering  coast 
stream,  which  empties  into  Boston  harbor. 

For  over  three  years,  Champiain  was  in  various  parts  of  this 
Atlantic  coast,  and  it  was  he  who  took  the  first  steps  towards 
an  intelligible  cartography  of  the  shore  line  of  Nova  Scotia  and 
New  England.  The  St.  Lawrence  was  not  meanwhile  wholly 
neglected.  Pontgrave,  who  was  scouring  it  in  1606  to  arrest 
intruders,  seized  a  vessel  which  De  Monts  and  others  had  sent 
there  for  trade,  — an  action  which  compelled  a  resort  to  a  legal 
settlement  in  France.  But  a  greater  shock  was  in  store  for 
De  Monts.  His  commission  had  been  revoked  some  Ti.oexpedi- 
time   before,  and  when  Champiain  heard  of  it.  the  ti"'"  returns, 

^^    October 

news  was  accompanied  by  a  recall  of  the  expedition,  ^'^^^    ' 
and  in  October,  1607,  all  were  back  in  St.  Malo. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  French  were  aware  at  the  time 
of  the  Virginia  movement,  which  had  followed  the  peace  which 


,in 


,  M 


0\ 


92 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION,  1600-1607. 


had  been  made  between  P:nj,dan(l  and  Spain   in  1G05.     Wliilo 

Champlain  had  been  .searehin<,'  the  inlets  of  the  New  England 

coast,  Captain  John   Smith  was  exploring  tho  waters  of   the 

Cdiesapeake  to  find  a  passage  to  tho  western  sea,  as  Captain 

Newport  did  a  little  later,  and  for  near  a  century  there  wero 

those  among  the  EngliLai  who  wero  not  prepared  to  believe  that 

Virginia  was  other  than  an  island,  which  might  afford  a  way 

along  its  ;Heaboard  to  this  occidental  goal.      The  year  before 

Chami)lain  left  tho  moio  northern  waters,  the  English  king  had 

granted  (1(J06)   to  the  London   and   Plymouth  companies   a 

stretch  of  territory  along  the  coast  from  84°  in  the  south  to  45° 

in  the  north,  which  was  sure  before  long  to  raise  a  question  of 

jurisdiction  between  these  ri.al  nations,  and  actually  did  bring 

them  in  conflict  at  Mt.  Desert  the  same  season  in  which  Cham- 

plain  left  the  coast. 


f 


CHAPTER  V. 

COLONIZATION   ESTAULISIIED   AT   QUEBEC. 

1608-1G13. 

The  year  1608  opened  with  a  transient  change  of  fortune 
for  De  Monts.  He  hail  listened  to  Champlain's  recital  of  his 
three  years'  experience  with  a  renewed  zest  for  exploration,  and 
he  was  prepared  to  abandon  the  coast  for  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Under  the  same  narrative,  and  \)y  eason  c'  persuasions  that 
profit  und  glory  could  yet  be  found,  the  king  so  far  relented 
that  on  January  7  he  signed  a  patent  allowing  De  oeMont.-. 
Monts  a  renewal  of  his  fui--tiade  monopoly  for  a  ain-  {JeweJ^;'. 
gle  year.  IJe  coupled  a  condition  with  it,  very  likely  ""y^I^ws. 
at  the  instigation  of  Champlain,  that  an  attempt  should  be  again 
made  to  penetrate  farther  into  the  interior  of  the  continent. 
The  salt  western  sea  of  Chuinidain's  first  report  had  not  been 
forgotten,  and  there  were  hopes,  if  it  could  be  reached,  of  its 
affording  tlie  coveted  way  to  India.  De  Monts  was  not  witiiout 
hopes  of  an  extension  of  his  trading  privilege  a^  the  end  of  the 
year. 

Buoyed  by  this  anticipation,  and  animated  by  the  enthusiasm 
which  projects  of  hazard  often  contribute,  De  Monts  fitted  out 
two  ships.  To  Pontgrave  was  assigned  the  command  of  the 
trading  part  of  the  expedition,  with  orders  to  return  at  the 
expiration  of  the  season.  To  Champlain,  who  was  now  created 
lieutenant-governor,  was  given  the  task  of  holding  the  country 
permanently,  and  developing  its  geography.  This  meant  that 
an  opportunity  should  be  taken  to  put  to  the  test  what  he  liad 
already  explained  to  the  king  in  his  Sauvages,  namely,  "  the 
practicability  of  finding  a  way  to  China,  avoiding  at 
the  same  time  the  cold  of  the  north  and  the  heat  of  t?^"^!^ 
the  south,"  and  he  believed  this  route  lay  through  the  '°*^''""'" 
St.  Lawrence. 


'^il 


>i 


w 


t 


Quebec 

foiuided, 

1C08. 


94         COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 

On  the  .1th  of  April,  1608,  Pontgravd  sailed  from  Honfleur  in 
The  expedi-    ^'^^  "  Levrier,"  and  a  week  later  Champlain  embarked 
A^?ir&.    '*  ''  supposed,  in  the  "Don  de  Dieu,"  then  ander  the 
^        command  of  Henri  CouiUard,  an  old  associate  of  Pont- 
grave  and  Chauvm.     On  June  3,  Champlain  reached  Tadous- 
fcr*''"   «^,«:f^;7«  at  once  called  upon  to  set^ig  a  disrate 
wJ"^'l^  had  already  been  begun    between    Pontgrave 
and  a  Basque  fisherman.     A  little  blood  had  been  drawn^  and 
as  It  would  not  do  to  risk  the  main  enterprise  by  delays,  the 
governor-general  composed  th.  quarrel  temporarily,  and  left 
the  ultunate  decision  to  the  authorities  at  home.     This  contest 
arranged,  Champlain  set  to  work  building  a  small  shallop  of 
about  fourteen  tons,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  on  his 
way  up  the  St.  Tawrence.     The  bold   headland  of 
Quebec  had  attracted  his  attention  in  1603,  and  he 
.u  .     "•^.^^^etermined  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  town  be- 
neath Its  clifes,  and  /ery  soon  the  level  strand  along  the  river 
presented  a  busy  scene. 

Champlain  had  not  completed  the  laying  out  of  his  garden 
when  he  was  startled  at  a  disclosure  from  one  of  his  men      A 
mechanic  among  his  followers,  thinking  to  gain  the  sympathy 
of  the   Basques    at  Tadoussac   and   some   consequent   advan- 
tage, plotted  with  some  accomplices  to  murder  Champlain  and 
otter  the  new  settlement  as  a  lure  to  the  rivals  down  the  river. 
Champlain     ^T^  a  sccret,  requiring  passive  complicity  in  many 
•    others,  being  hard  to  keep,  was  opportunely  betrayed. 
Champlain,  while  his  knowledge  of  the  plot  was  not  suspected 
enticed  the  ringleaders  on  board  a  bark  lying  in  the  stream,' 
wliere  they  were  easily  overpowered.     The  body  of  the  princi- 
pal plotter  soon  dangled  from  a  tree,  and  three  of  the  otlu-r 
chief  conspirators  were  put  in  irons. 

Champlain  now  explored  the  little  tributary  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, which  causes  the  promontory  of  Quebec  to  jut  out  like 
a  cape.  On  this  stream  he  came  upon  traces  of  the  fort  which 
Cartier  had  built,  and  in  his  journal  he  enters  into  an  argu- 
ment  to  prove  the  identification,  which  at  that  time  was  at 
variance  with  the  common  opinion  that  the  St.  Croix  River  of 
Cartier  was  higher  up  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Pontgrave  having  completed  the  lading  of  his  ships,  Cham- 
plain placed  under  that  commander's  charge  the  three  accom- 


CHAMPLAIN  AND   THE  IROQUOIS.  95 

plices  of  the  recent  plot,  who  were  destined  to  expiate   their 
crime  m  the  galleys.     On  September  18,  Pont"-rave  . 
sailed  for  France.     The  little  colony  was  left  to%re-  '«'*^"'" 
pare  for  winter  and  its  hard  experiences. 

There  was  a  long  and  harrowi--  wait"  till  spring  opened  and 
the  ice-floes  began  to  jostle  in  the  river.     All  in  nature  was 
more  blooming  than  the  spirits  of  the  imprisoned  col- 
onists,  when  on  June  15,  1609,  Champlain  learned  ""'"'•  "^'• 
that  a  week  before,  Pontgrave  had  returned  to  Tadoussac.    Two 
(ays  later,  the  governor  started  down  the  river  to  confer  with 

had  ."."ll'i  •*  ?'""]'    ^'  T'  ^  '^^  ''''y  '"^^'^  Champlain 
had  to  tell  his  friend.     Only  eight  of  the  twenty-eight  whom 

Pontoravc  had  left  behind  a  year  ago  were  living,  and  half  of 
these  were  broken  down.     The  winter's  horrors  were  too  sick- 
enmg  to  dwell  upon,  for,  to  increase  the  miseries  of  the  French 
the  famished  savages  had  hung  about  the  settlement  all  the 
interval. 

With  the  store  of  provisions  which  Pontgrave'  had  brought, 
and  with  fresh  men  to  take  up  the  toil,  the  little  com- 
munity began  to  improve  in  the  summer  air.     Stories  bri"„Xt 
had  reached  the  governor,  during  the  winter,  of  the   ""' 
extent  and  beauty  of  that  lake  which  lay  towards  the  country 
of  the  Iroquois,  and  something  in  the  nature  of  a  pact  was  ap- 
parentb.  made  ^vith  the  Montagnais,  who  inhabited  the  count-Jv 
about  Quebec.  ^  It  was  agreed  that  if  these  warriors  would  con- 
duct Champlam  on  an  exploration  in  that  direction,  he  would 
%ht  in  their  defeii^e  if  any  of  their  enemies  were  encountered. 
w,-S       "^'!  18;  1609,  Champlain  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence 
with  a  party  of  French  and  savages,  and  found  two  „      , , 
or  three  hundred  Hurons  and  Algonquins  encamped  ?r'""' 
not  far  from  the  river  that  led  to  this  southern  lake.   ^^^" 
These  Indians  we.e  preparing  to  proceed  with  the  Montagnais 
on  a  war-path  towards  the  Iroquois.     It  was  a  bodeful  meeting. 
Ihe  Indian  chief,  at  a  council  which  was  held,  gave  Champlafn 
to  understand  that  he  must  needs  cement  the  alliance  which 
their.  fr.endly  intercourse  in  1603,  and  his  recent  promises  to 
the  Montagnais,  had  foreshadowed.     He  did  not  hesitate  to  do 
so  by  agreeing  to  join  in  their  enterprise. 

There  is  nothing  in  Champlain's  career  which  has  exposed 
mm  to  so  much  censure  as  ta>a  prompt  desertion  of  the  r.L  .f 


!\'- 


Lili 


H 


96 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


\ 


i  « 


a  mediator  and  pacificator  among  the  peoples  with  whom  he  had 
dehberately  cast  his  lot.     Such  censors  are  the  Abbes  Faillon 
and  Ferland.     His  defenders  point  to  the  necessity  of  his  mak- 
nig  a  promise  to  those  whom  he  needed  for  allies,  and  allege 
that   none   but  a  dastard  could  have  shunned  abiding  by  it. 
By  thus   ingratiating   himself  with  his    savage  neighbors,  he 
could  make  sure  of  their  protection,  and  so  advance  his  purpose 
of  western  discovery,  and  make  it  easier  for  the  Recollect  and 
Jesuit  to  venture  among  distant  villages.    Thus  much  he  indeed 
gained  ;  but  he  rendered  the  western  path  unceasingly  hazard- 
ous, m  acquiring  the  enmity  of  the  ablest  and  most  redoubtable 
warriors  of  the  Indian  race.     For  over  a  century,  the  Iroquois 
found  no  pastime  equal  to  rendering  life  in  Canada  miserable. 
They  kept  in  perpetual  anxiety  every  settler  along  the  great 
valley  who  dared  to  occupy  a  farmstead  away  from  the  palisaded 
settlements.     The  shrieks  of  murdered  children,  the  moans  of 
tortured   parents,   and   devastation   of    households,  mark   the 
course  of  French-Canadian  history  as  long  as  the  Iroquoii  main- 
tained an  aggressive  confederacy.     Thus  it  was  that  in  making 
enemies  of  thpse  affiliated  tribes,  Champlain  exposed  the  long 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  constant  inroads  on  its  southern 
flanks,  and  no  preparation  for  many  years  that  the  French 
coi^d  make  was  able  to  cheek  these  disasters.    Champlain  could 
hardly  indeed  have  anticipated  the  century  and  move  of  border 
warfare  which  was  to  follow  upon  the  strengthening  of  these 
savage  southern   hordes  by  an   alliance  with  the  Dutch  and 
English. 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  actual  conflict  of  1609,  which 
opened  this  interminable  warfare.  Champlain  and  his  savage 
allies  sped  up  the  river  and  along  the  lake,  and  at  a  point 
Fight  at  identified  as  the  modern  Ticonderoga  they  met  in  the 
T.conderoga.  ^^^^^  .^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^j^^  Iroquois.  Waiting  till  day- 
light, they  began  the  battle.  Champlain  describes  the  fight,  and 
shows  how  the  appar'tion  of  the  Frenchmen,  with  their  arque- 
buses, leveling  their  enemies  with  unseen  bolts  amid  deadly 
noises,  struck  terror  into  the  ranks  of  the  adversary  and  secured 
an  easy  victory  for  the  invaders.  Colden's  later  narrative  may 
in  a  certain  sense  be  supposed  to  present  the  traditional  account 
of  the  Iroquois.  It  confirms  the  powerful  agency  which  the  sud- 
den display  of  the  Christians'  marvelous  weapons  had  in  deciding 
the  issue  of  the  fight. 


FIGHT  NEAR    TICONDEROGA 


97 


CHAMPLAIN'S   FIGHT   NEAR    TICONDEROGA. 

[From  Cliamplain,  ed.  of  If.lS.]  Key  :  .1  (wanting),  the  fort.  B,  enemy.  C,  oak  bark  canoes 
of  the  enemy,  liohtinR  ten,  fifteen,  or  eighteen  men  each.  D,  two  chiefs  wlio  were  killed.  E, 
an  enemy  wounded  by  Cliauiplain's  musket.  F  (wanting),  Cliamplain,  G  (wanting),  two 
musketsers.  /T,  canoes  of  the  allies,  Montagnaia,  Ochaataiguins,  and  Algouquins,  who  are  above. 
/  (also  on  the),  birch-bark  canoes  of  the  allies.    A'  (\  lutiug),  woods. 


i.  ■ 

liii 
t'lii 


II!' 


"m 


vPi 


!ifj 


P'i 


■mililil  lUH  MIM 


98 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


The  combat  took  place  on  July  30,  1609,  on  the  shore  where 
Juiy3o,ico9.  ^•''*'!'  P'^^^y  ^^^^  ^^"^^etl  from  their  canoes,  and  the 
curious  reader  may  see  how  the  governor  depicts  him- 
self  ni  armor  and  plumed  helmet,  firing  his  arquebus,  if  he  will 
look  at  the  drawing  that  Champlain  set  before  his  countrymen 
m  the  narrative  printed  for  their  edification.  To  his  royal 
master  this  expedition  had  given  a  title  to  a  fair  lake  and  its 
water-shed ;  but  while  its  commander  was  leading  it,  he  little 
suspected  how,  not  many  weeks  from  the  same  time,  Henry 
Hudson,  in  a  search  for  a  western  passage,  ascended  from  the 

Solids"'*  °*^^'^"'  ^^  ^^^®  "^®'^'  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^  "ai^e,  to  the 
roquo.8.  country  of  the  Mohawks,  establishing  claims  which  for 
fifty  years  the  Dutch  held  against  both  French  and  English 
Thus  was  prepared  the  way  for  that  later  league  of  the  Iroquois 
and  the  Dutch,  by  which  the  savages  acquired  the  European 
weapon.  Champlain's  successors  were  to  discover  to  their  cost 
what  this  league  and  that  with  the  later  English  meant,  when 
the  lake  to  which  we  still  apply  its  discoverer's  name  was  often 
alive  with  the  bustle  of  war. 

Returned  to  Quebec,  Champlain  prepared  to  depart  for 
chnmpiain  France,  leaving  Pierre  Chauvin  in  charge ;  and  on 
octob'T'     October  13,  1609,  he  landed  at  Honfieur.     Though 

•  De  Monts's  privileges  had  expired,  the  governor  found 

him  by  no  means  discouraged,  and   quite  ready  for  another 
venture. 

The  public  had  no  occasion  to  forget  these  recent  experiences. 
Ihe  lively  Lescarbot,  a  lawyer  of  Paris  and  a  society  wit,  had 
a  few  years  before,  joined  the  colonists  of  Acadia.     He  had  not 
been  unohsorvant  of  Champlain's  career  in  the  new 
world,  ana  was  now  prepared  to  give  his  La  Nouvelle 
France  to  the  reading  public.     In  it  he  aimed  to  re- 
count  what  the  French  had  so  far  done  in  securing  a  foothold 
for  the  king  in  these  northern  regions.     The  publication  did 
not  escape  the  notice  of  Hakluyt  in  London.     This  Eno-Iish 
chronicler  was  anxious  to  make  it  clear  that  his  countrymen 
were  quite  ready  to  launch  their  barges  beyond  the  divide  at 
the  head  of  the  James  Eiver,  and  lead  the  way  to  Asia.     He 
also  would  show  that  they  possessed  in  Virginia  a  region  of 
far  greater  attractiveness  for  the  emigrant.     His  way  to  make 
this  evident  was  to  familiarize  the  English  public  with  what  the 


Lescarbot 

and 

Hakluyt. 


THE  IROQUOIS  ATTACKED. 


99 


Fronch  had  suffered  in  the  north  ;  and  with  this  end  in  view  a 
portion  of  Lescarbot's  book  was  translated  and  published  in 
London. 

Lescarbot  did  not  leave  his  readers  uncertain  of  those  upon 
whom  credit  should  be  bestowed  for  what  the  French  had 
already  done.  "Let  us  say,"  he  admits,  "that  France  owes 
these  discoveries  to  the  Sieur  de  Monts,  at  whose  expense  they 
have  been  made  ;  and  she  is  likewise  indebted  to  the  courage  of 
Champlain  in  exposing  his  life  in  these  explorations,  and  in 
bearing  some  part  of  the  charge.  Champlain  promises  never 
to  cease  his  efforts  until  he  has  found  either  a  western  sea  or  a 
northern  sea,  opening  the  route  to  China,  which  so  many  have 
thus  far  sought  in  vain."  As  to  the  western  sea,  Lescarbot 
add^:  "I  believe  it  beyond  the  remoter  parts  of  that  very 
great  lake,  which  we  hear  of."  He  further  expressed  the  ever- 
constant  opinion  of  a  school  of  contemporary  geographers,  that 
the  great  river  of  Canada  issued  from  a  lake  which  also  poured 
its  waters  by  another  channel  to  the  South  Sea.  He  recalled 
how  in  Europe  and  Africa  such  a  diverging  flow  was  not  un- 
known, instancing  the  lake  at  the  source  of  the  Nile,  as  such  an 
example. 


With  such  prestige  as  Champlain   had  acquired,  increased 
possibly  by  Lescarbot's  account  of  him,  it  was  not  surprising 
that  he  was  again  selected  to  take   recruits   to   the  v  , 
colony.     Tontgrave  went  witli  him,  and  their  two  ves-  ^''"'■ 
sels,  after  some  misfortunes  in  working  off  the  coast,  —  for  the 
spring  was  a  boisterous  one,  —  finally  reached  Tadoussac  on 
April  26,  1610.     Champlain  had  laid  out  plans  for  new  explo- 
rations, for  the  secrets  of  the  Saguenay  and  the  Ottawa  were 
still  undivulged.     He  found,  however,  the  Indians  too  intent 
on  their  yearly  invasion  of  the  Iroquois  country  to  be  diverted 
from  it,  and  without  their  aid  exploration  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.     He  joined  their  camp  near   the   mouth  of   the  Attacks  ti>e 
Richelieu  River,  and  led  them  to  an   attack  on   an  ^t™i"o's. 
Iroquois  barricade,  which  had  been  hastily  constructed,  not  far 
up  the  river.     The  attack  was  so  successful  that  not  a  hostile 
savage  escaped. 

^  It  was  after  this  June  onset,  and  while  he  was  encamped  with 
his  allies  on  an  island  in  Lake  St=  Peter,  that  he  and  thev  made 


I 


,9   "' 


100       COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 

a  mutual  exchange  of  hostages,  in  giving  and  taking  a  younc 
man  on  each  side.     Champlain  received  the  savage  Savignon'i 
Hostages^     whom  he  later  took  to  France,  and  he  gave  them  a 
excmnge  .     ^^^^^  Frenchman,  —  there  is  reason  to  believe  he  is 
the  same  who  later  became  known  as  Etienne  Brule.     Both  of 
these  hostages,  after  a  mutual  restitution  was  made  the  next 
year,  became  of  manifest  value  to  Champlain  in  his  later  inter- 
course with  the  savages,  for  this  interchange  of  interpreters 
enabled  him  to  reach  better  conclusions  as  to  the  great  lakes  of 
the  west,  and  as  to  the  passages  towards  Florida  on  the  south. 
V\  hen  Champlain  parted  with  his  savage  friends,  two  other 
Frenchmen  voluntarily  accompanied  th*  m,  and  one  of  tliem 
Nicolas  de  Vignau,  who  went  oif  with  the  Algonquins,  we  shall 
encounter  again. 

A  few  weeks  later,  a  ship  brought  news  of  the  assassination 
oumpiain  «*  ^^^^^^^  ^^ '  The  death  of  the  king  was  a  calamity 
Sr,  *°  *«  *^^«  ««l«ny-  Having  invested  the  Sieur  du  Pare 
Ang.-sept.  .vith  the  Command,  and  leaving  sixteen  men  to  hold 
the  post,  Champlain,  with  some  feelings  of  uncertainty 
as  to  ^le  effect  in  France  of  a  change  in  the  monarch,  sailed 
from  ladoussac  on  August  13,  and  reached  Honfleur  on  Sen- 
tember  27.  ^ 

It  was  now,  while  in  France,  that  Champlain  agreed  with 
campiain     ^^^^^^^  ^o"ll^  "P^^  a  dowcr  of  4500  livres,  to  be  paid 
rir^or      ^y  ^«"11^  to  ^i""'  in  anticipation  of  Champlain's  mar- 
maSe.'^'    "age  with  Boulle's  daughter,  then  a  child.     It  was 
ten  years  later  that  he  married  her.     Meanwhile,  the 
dower  was  such  an  addition  to  his  pecuniary  resources  that  he 
now  manifested  increased  devotion  to  the  commercial  side  of 
Voyage  of      the  colouy,  for  it  had  not  before  interested  him  much. 
His  next  voyage  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  1611,  was 
almost  wholly  in  the  interests  of  the  fur  trade.     He  went  up 
the  river  to  the  rapids,  and  selected  a  position  for  a  trading- 
post  near  the  site  of   the  later  Montreal.     He  met  here  his 
Indian  allies,  and  the  hostages  on  both  sides  were   mutually 
restored.     He  listened  to  new  stories  of  distant  western  lakes 
and  got  reports  from  other  savages  who  had  followed  up  the 
trail  towards  Florida. 

His  barter  for  furs  made  him  more  familiar  with  the  traders. 


A    VICEROYALTY  ESTABLISHED. 


101 


He  found  their  pursuits  a  competition  which  diminished  their 
own  profits,  and  hampered  his  efforts  for  discovery.     Referring 
to  these  traders,  he  says :  "  All  they  want  is  that  the  explorers 
should  face  danger  in  discovering  new  peoples  and  new  lands  for 
their  trade,  while  they  may  find  profit  where  the  others  found 
hardship."     It  was  evident  that  the  trade  in  peltries,  if  to  be 
worth  pursuing,  must  be  put  on   a  different  basis.      On  his 
return  to  France  in  September,  IGll,  he  undertook  ^  trading 
the  organizing  of  the  Canadian  experiment  on  a  better  foS'^^ 
commercial  basis,  and  with  this  task  he  was  occupied  ^"""""^2. 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  following  year. 

The  whole  trading  interests  of  the  Norman  towns  during  the 
early  years  of  the  fur  trade  in  Canada  were  much  complicated 
by  rivalries  and  jealousies.  The  study  of  the  subject  involves 
pretty  closely  the  consideration  of  such  books  as  the  Glanes  and 
Nov.velles  Glanes  historiques  Normandes  of  E.  H.  Gosselin. 

Champlain's  plans  at  this  time  provoked  opposition  from  the 
merchants  of  St.  Malo  and  Rouen.  He  had  undertaken  in  a 
measure  to  diminish  the  advantages  of  individual  enterprise  by 
compelling^  all  who  joined  in  the  new  undertaking  to  share 
in  proportion  to  their  contribution  of  capital.  But  aspects 
other  than  commercial  were  daily  emphasized  in  public.  The 
Mercure  Fran(^ois  had  been  established,  and  began  its  work  in 
rendering  popular  th&  labors  of  the  priests.  In  the  introduc- 
tion, which  prepared  the  way,  its  editor  had  gone  over  the 
results  of  the  expeditions  of  De  Monts,  Pontgrave,  and  Cham- 
plain  (1604-1608),  rendering  them  better  known.  A  new  edi- 
tion  of  Lescarbot,  and  still  another  issue  of  the  same  o„rrent 
book,  before  Champlain  was  ready  for  sea,  testified  to  '""''^"' '" 
the  growing  interest.  But  the  newer  knowledge  had  """•'"" 
little  effect  on  prevailing  views  of  the  geography  of  the  region, 
and  the  contemporary  edition  of  Wytfliet's  atlas  showed  no  im- 
provement  upon  the  notions  which  had  been  developed  out  of 
the  narratives  of  Cartier. 


I! 


rt!' 


II 


{4\ 


The  distractions  which  had  followed  upon  the  death  of  the 
king  had  begun  to  subside.  Champlain  found  that  a  renewal 
of  political  quiet  conduced  to  draw  more  attention  to  his  plans, 
despite  the  opposition  that  their  first  promulgation  had  raised. 
One  feature  that  he  insisted  upon  was  to  give  dignity  to  the 


I'l  ' 


102        COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT 


QUEBEC. 


III 


CHAMPLAIN'S  MAPS. 


108 


0 


ca 


enterprise  by  putting  it  under  a  viceroy  of  enlarged  powers,  and 
on  October  8  the  Count  de  Soissons  was  appointed  .     , , 
to  that  position.     He  commissioned  Champlain  as  his  »°'""'"''' 
deputy,  a  few  days  later.     With  a  newly  awakened  '«""'' 
zeal  Soissons  set  about  the  task  of  familiarizing  himself  with 
the  project.     Champlain  had  hardly  begun  to  show 
and  explain  his  maps  when  the  viceroy  suddenly  died.  "'""' 

The  Prince  de  Conde  was  soon  selected  to  succeed  as  viceroy 
and  more  authority  was  assigned  to  him  than  had  been 
before  given  to  any  royal  representative  in  the  Cana-  cS '"' 
dian  region.     There  was  little  in  respect  to  civil,  mili-  ''"""'"^''" 
tary,  and  religious  administration  that  his  instructions  did  not 
permit  him  to  undertake.      His  letlers-patent  were  signed  at 
Pans,  November  13,  1612,  and  they  were  registered  at  „ 
Kouen,  a  few  months  later.     Under  these  instructions  ^^rio™^' 
the  viceroy  was  commanded  to  prevent  the  selling  of    Euro- 
pean weapons  to  the  natives,  and  he  was  expected  to  do  his 
utmost  to  find  and  open  a  way  to  China.     He  was  enjoined 
also  to  discover  the  mineral  resources  of  the  country. 

As  a  compensation  for  the  considerable  outlay  which  he 
might  be  called  upon  to  make  in  furthering  the  equipment  and 
business  of  the  new  expedition,  the  prince  was  to  be  allowed  a 
twelve  years'  lease  of  the  trade  and  mines  of  the  country,  with 
ample  powers  to  manage  it  by  deputy  and  to  prevent  intruders. 
A  new  commission  was  issued  to  Champlain  on  November  22. 

Of  the  maps  which  Champlain  showed  to  the  viceroy,  two 
were  prepared  to  accompany  the  account  of  his  expe-  cham  laiu'. 
riences  in  the  new  world  since  1604 ;  and  a  third  was  ""a™^""' 
perhaps  one  owned  by  Harrisse,  dated  in  1607,  showing  the 
coasts  and  harbors  of  New  France,  which  has  not  yet  beeli  en- 
graved. Of  the  maps  published  in  it,  one,  dated  1612,  is  larger 
than  the  other,  but  shows  a  lesser  extent  of  territory,  and 
Champlain  explains  that  it  was  "  constructed  according  to  com- 
^  .sises  of  France,  which  vary  to  the  northeast."  Its  interior 
geography  makes  clear  what  conceptions  respecting  the  great 
western  waters  Champlain  had  derived  from  the  stories  with 
which  the  Indians  had  regaled  him.  We  find  in  this  ma])  Lake 
Champlain  and  the  river  stretching  west  from  Boston  harbor 
brought  into  close  conjunction,  as  he  had  supposed  them  when  on 
the  New  England  coast.     Lake  Ontario  is  in  nearly  its  exact 


I    .  n  j 


111 


tarn.: 


'1?V 


104 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


pos  t,on  Tho  small  lakes  south  of  it  in  New  York  State  are 
coalesced  into  a  smgle  expanse  of  wat.r,  which  he  calls  the 
J.ake  of  the  Iroquois.     Farther  west  a  little  stream  flows  into 


Wt»tl 


tnl^^  b  catitaufjivr    dti  dkicy  dnhiuiunr/dtf  lai 


-s    Jk 


HtSL 


L^lti 


CHAMPLAIN'S  CONCEPTION 


the  lake,  conveying  the  waters  of  a  natural  reservoir  not  far  off 
Its  position  would  make  it  stand  for  the  inadequate  conception, 
which  Champlain  had  and  never  dispelled,  of  the  Niagara 
Kiver  and  Lake  Erie.     At  its  extreme  western  end,  Ontario 


THE  GREAT  LAKES. 


105 


receives  by  a  connecting  channel,  broken  by  a  fall,  the  waters 
of  Lake  Huron,  —  and  farther  west  the  map  does  not  go.  IHs 
Busnicions  of  th(i  course  of  the  Ottawa  were  far  from  correct ; 


OF  THE   GRKAT  LAKES,  1C12. 


he  made  it  little  more   than   an   archipelago  which  frin"-ed 
Ontario.  ^ 

The  other  of  the  Uo  maps  he  calls  "a  geographical  map 
ot  New  France  m  its  true  meridian,"  and  there  is  reason  to  be- 


k  I 


'It 


rinmm'csis^m:. 


100 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


II 


II 


hevo  thaf,  aatecl  a  year  later  (1G13)  tlmn  tho  iarger  map,  it  wan 
ma.  0  even  after  the  book  whlcli  was  to  contain  it  vas  nearly 
ready  to  leave  tho  press.  The  clianges  in  it  from  the  other  map 
are  marked.  Lake  Ontario  has  disappeared,  and  a  network  of 
rivers  distinct  from  tlio  course  of  the  Ottawa  appears  in  its 
place,  — a  conception  which  beguiled  Blaeu  and  otuer  cartog- 


It 


CHAMPLAIX'S   MAP, 

raphers  at  a  later  day.  Another  distinguishing  feature  is  a 
great  salt  sea  brought  out  at  the  north  in  something  like  if 
true  proportions.  In  this  delineation  he  profited  by  the  report 
of  Hudson  s  explorations,  which  had  laid  open  the  straits  named 
after  that  navigator,  with  the  great  bay  beyond,  where  Hudson 
had  wintered.  Ihat  navigator's  mutinous  crew,  having  set  their 
commander  adrift  lu  .Y  ..reat  bay,  had  brought  back  to  Europe 
one  of  the  charts  viuj  lie  1..d  made.     This  had  just  appear^ 


HUDSON'S  MAP. 


107 


when   Champlain   was   vevising   this   map,  in   an   account  of 
Hmlson's  voyage  which  was  published  at  Amsteiilam   „„a^„., 
(1612),  under  the  editing  of  IFormann  Gerritsz, — a    "'p- 
book  usually  cited  by  the  title  ol    he  Latin  edition,  the  JkWctio 
Freti  Iludsoni.     Its  chart  gave  an  approximately  true  dflline- 
atinnof  the  great  northern  bay,  which  forced  an  easy  conjecture 


!« 


DATED  IN  1G13. 


that  it  would  reveoJ  a  westerly  connection  with  the  Pacific. 
Champlain  must  have  felt  that  it  confirmed  his  conception  of 
that  great  North  American  island  which  he  had  dreamed  of  at 
Panama.  It  was  a  conception  much  in  advance  of  the  views 
which  Ilondius,  the  most  popular  geographer  of  his  day,  was 
inculcating  in  the  different  editions  of  the  Mercator  Atlas.  We 
know  that  such  professional  cartographers  as  Johannes  Oliva 
of  Marseilles  were  still  clinging  to  the  old  notions  of  Sebastian 
Miinster. 


0i\ 


it 

'rv-  -.  ' 


I  I 


ft  ;    1 


|I:J 


108 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


There  was  one  aspect  of  the  Hudson  map  which  Cha.nplain 
eagerly  se.zed  upon,  and  he  was  mspired  by  it  with  a  newW 
T„„ .,..,..     that  he  might  yet  reach  this  northern  water,  either  bv 
the  baguenay,  by  the  rivers  that  debouched  at  Three 


The  north 
ern  sea. 


HUDSON'S  f:XPLORATIONS. 

Kivers,  or  by  the  Ottawa.  We  find  him  possessed  by  such  a 
hope  in  the  dedicatory  letter  to  thc>  Prince  of  Conde,  which  he 
pivfixed  to  his  new  book.  In  this  he  speaks  of  his  desire  to 
follow  more  persistently  a  search  for  this  northern  sea,  which 
he  expected  to  find  at  a  point  not  much  beyond  those  which  he 


lit  ' 


VIGNAU'S  DECEIT. 


109 


had  already  reached.     His  mind  was  accordingly  prepared  to 
receive  any  statement  which  confirmed  this  expectation 

U  was  just  at  this  time  that  Champlain's  credulity  in  this 
respect  was  put  to  a  test.     It  will  be  remembered  that  a  year 


[From  Gerritsz'a  Tabula  Naiitica.'] 


or  two  before,  he  had  allowed  a  young  man,  named  Nicolas 
de  Vignau,  to  winter  among  the  Algonquins,  where  he  was  ex- 
pected  to  pick  up  what  he  could  of  their  tongue  and  ^   ,    . 

4.1, „•  1  .      1  _-,  .  to"^    ii-wM    Nicolas  de 

tlieu  geograpliical  secrets.     This  youth  now  appeared  ^''8"«"- 
111  Paris.     lie  had  returned  from  the  wilderness  to  Quebec,  and 


^m 


\\\\ 


110        COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 
taken  jmssage  in  one  of  the  ships  coming  home  after  the  sum- 
mer  tmdmg.     Whether  he  started  from  Quebec  with  the  pnr- 
pose  of  mgratiatmg  himself  with  the  home  authorities  by  mak- 
ing  up  a  story  to  flatter  the  prevailing  geographical  hopes,  or 
whether   he  was  induced  to  his  deceit  by  finding  Champlain 
ready   for  anythmg  which  confirmed  his  hopes,  may  not  be 
clear.     At  any  rate,  he  told  his  tale.     It  was  that  leavir«-  his 
A^gonqum  hosts,  he  had  made  his  way  up  the  Ottawa  to  a'lake 
which  by  another  outlet  led  him  to  the  shores  of  a  salt  sea 


HUDSON'S  I3AV  AND  THE  ST.   lAWREXCE 
[As  delineated  iu  1013  in  the  V.lectio  Freti  Ilu<lsoni  (A.nsierdam),] 

wJiere  he  had  seen  the  wreck  of  an  English  ship.     This  storv 

:l  Irt^^;^  ^  "-^^-^^  voyage  obvioily^d 
each  othei.     The  effect  was  natural.     Champlain  and  the  gen- 

^emen  of   the  court  interested  in  his  enterprise  readily  took 
waters,  and  a  consequent  path  to  China.     No  time  was  to  be 


&0  in  the  early  spring  (March)  of  1013,  Cham- 


Cliaiiiplain        iOSt. 

».:'ici3.   f  ""'  ',''°'"P^"f  ^^  ^^y  ^i8»nu,  was  once  more  at  sea. 
Arrived  at  Quebec  (May  8),  he  lost  little  time  in 
pieparations,  and,  still    accompanied  by  Vignau    and   a    few 
others,  he  was  speedily  on  his  way  up  the  Ottnwn 


• 


CHAMPLAIN  ON  THE   OTTAWA. 


Ill 


On  the  little  flotilla  went.  They  padcUed  or  poled  their 
canoes  by  day,  and  camped  on  the  banks  at  night.  E^pio^esthe 
The  broken  current  often  compelled  them  to  bear  their  onawa!^ 


CHAMPLAIN'S  ASTROLABE,  1G03. 
[After  Cut  in  O.  H.  Marshall's  Historical  Writings.} 

burdens  by  the  portages,  which  the  Indians  had  long  used. 
Champlain  noted ^  all  along  in  his  pocket-book  the  latitude  of 
his  camps,  and  his  figures  are  found  to  agree  pretty  well  with 
the  topographical  features  which  he  describes.     Suddenly,  at  a 


\Ui 


» 


112 


COLONIZATION  ESTABLISHED  AT  QUEBEC. 


certain  portage  near  Muskrat  Lake,  his  entries  of  altitudes  be- 
come more  maceurate.  Five  and  twenty  years  ago,  a  farmer 
workn.g  ,n  the  field  at  this  point  turned  up  a  hL  astrolab 
beanng  he  date  o  1603,  and  of  Pans  nuake.  These  error 
of  n_s  a  titudes  and  tiie  line  of  his  progress  render  it  almost 
certain  that  this  relic  was  Champlain's,  and  that  his  loss  of  it 
had  left  him  without  the  means  of  accurate  determination  of 
ins  latitude. 

Chaniplain  stopped  at  a  village  to  procure  an  audience  with 

Its  chief      He  describes  the  festivals  which  were  made  in  his 

honor     It  was  in  this  village  that  Vignau  had  spent  his  winter, 

and  the  youth   was  now  among  his  old  companions.     When 

L^liaraplam  asked  for  an  escort  to  take  him  the  rest  of  Vignau's 

vign.u's       last  year's  journey  to  the  salt  sea,  the  fellow's  ivically 

deceit  was  exposed,  for  the  savages  knew  that  he  had 

never  left  them  on  any  such  journey,  during  his  sojourn  among 

them.     The  youth  could  but  confess  his  mendacity,  and  throw 

himself  on  his  leader's  mercy. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  Champlain  but  to  lead  his  partv 
soberly  back  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  under  escort  of  a  crowd  of 
canoes  going  down  for  the  annual  trade. 

During  this  visit  to  Canada,  Chumplain  spent  but  little  more 
than  two  months.  He  had  failed  in  his  search  at  the  north,  but 
iie  iiail  at  ast  got  an  intelligent  notion  of  the  course  of  the 
Uttawa,  and  was  able  to  correct  his  tentative  maps.  When  he 
reached  the  great  river,  he  found  seven  ships  trading  at  Mon- 
treal Ihe  scene  gave  him  a  new  conception  of  the  growth 
which  the  fur  trad-?  was  making. 

Going  to  Tadoussac,  he  embarked  there  on  July  8,  and  on 
Back  in  *'*<^  2^*='i  of  the  ucxt  uiontli,  his  ship  floated  with  the 
^■^t'lTcii"-    *^^1^'  "ito  the  basin  of  St.  Malo. 

France  had  now  transferred  her  chief  interests  to 
the  vast  northern  valley.  She  saw  there  the  best  chance  of 
progress  to  the  west,  and  the  allurements  of  the  trade  in  peltries 
were  rapidly  growing  upon  her  commercial  sense.  Her  settle- 
ments along  the  Maine  coast  easily  lost  their  hold.  The  Dutch 
1013.  ?"'^®^^^  '^'^^  "ot  now  reach  them,  but  Adrian  Block, 

m  the  little  "Onrust,"  sailing  from  Manhattan,  had 
pushed  around  Cai)e  Cod,  and  established  the  northern  claims 
ot  that  people  at  Nahant.     It  is  to  Block  and  the  Dutch  that 


CHAMPLAIN'S  DESCRIPTIONS. 


113 


we  now  begin  to  look  for  developments  in  the  hydrography  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.  The  English  were  more  enterprising,  and 
a  party  from  Virginia  in  an  armed  vessel,  under  Samuel  Argall, 
hovering  about  Mount  Desert,  found  a  convenient 
moment  to  take  a  settlement  of  the  Jesuits  unawares.  ^^^^' 
They  fell  upon  it,  and  carried  off  some  of  the  French  to  James- 
town, and  made  a  like  raid  the  next  year. 


SHIP  OP  1G13. 
[From  the  Delectio  Freli  Ilndsoni,  Amsterdam,  1C13.] 

Champlain  had  been  licensed  on  January  9, 1G13,  to  print  tlie 
book  which  contained  his  maps.  The  narrative,  beside  enabling 
us  to  follow  his  adventures,  gives  us  one  of  the  earliest  descrip- 
tions of  the  animals  and  plants  of  our  northern  coasts.  Men  of 
science,  however,  to-day  find  his  accounts  far  less  satisfactory 
than  those  of  the  Englishmen,  Hariot  and  White,  on  the  Vir- 
ginia coast  twenty  years  before. 


Ivlf 


ii^ 


'E  ;r 


ft 


If- 

j      ^ 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WAR,   TRADE,    AND    MISSIONS.        THE    FALL    OF    QUEBEC. 

1614-1629. 
Champlain  now  remained  in  France  for  fl,n  i.^**  .    ^ 

tne  expenses  of  the  proposed  missions,  and  Champlain's  effort! 
SrSoTs"^  '^^  '^^"'  '^'''''  --'  — ^%  tufned  Ltl^r 

TJie  sending  of  Catholic  missionaries  was  not  o-rafpf.,!  . 
company  in  which  Protestant   interests  were  !  nf  ''' 

veitng  the  natives  in  making  tliem  iii-st  sedentivv      T^«  .     i 
.ng  instinct  W  that  this  meant  a  diniinSfiJh  ^  ' 

«,e  ITf  'T  "'•"  ™'  "  *»S»*  »'  --'On 
best  he  e„„,.,  wittut  tSiAlil!;:  "'°"°"  """  '™  "'^^  - 


Missions 
and  tlie 
fur  trade. 


THE  IROQUOIS. 


116 


The  Eecollect  stood  for  the  strictest  discipline  that  the  Fran- 
ciscan could  endure.  His  loose  and  coarse  gray  vestment  was 
girt  at  the  waist  with  a  cord,  and  his  pointed  hood,  if  not 
protecting  his  crown,  hung  behind.  His  feet  were  uncovered 
except  by  a  wooden  sole  ;  and  he  passed  among  men,  seeming 
holy  and  patient,  and  he  clung  to  poverty  and  humility. 

It  was  May  when  the  ship  reached  Quebec.     A  chapel  was 
at  once  built,  and  on  June  15  the  priests  celebrated  „^y^j 
their  first  mass.    It  was  the  first  since  the  coloniriation  *^^^^^''- 
of  the  country,  though  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the 
early  explorers  may  have  listened  to  the  holy  words  at  Brest  iu 
1534,  and  possibly  on  the  rock  of  Quebec  two  years  later. 

It  was  now  arranged  that  Jamay  should  remain  at  the  settle- 
ment.  D'Olbeau  was  soon  on  his  way  to  sojourn  among  the 
Montagnais,  and  Le  Caron  started  to  set  up  his  altar  in  the 
Huron  villages.  Sagard,  in  speaking  of  these  Canadian  tribes, 
classes  the  Hurons  as  the  nobility,  and  the  Montagnais  as  the 
rabble  of  the  woods.  To  the  Algonquins,  who  were  called  the 
burghers  of  the  forest,  no  priest  was  yet  assigned. 

Champlain,  in  dealing  with  the  Indian  problem  of  his  day, 
found  himself  confronted  by  an  ethnological  anomaly.  i„ji„„ 
This  part  of  the  continent  was  in  the  main  occupied  <i'st"i'"t'on- 
by  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  stock;  but  in  the  midst  of  this 
exr-i.usion  of  a  common  blood  there  was  a  sort  of  linguistic 
islu.;,  bounded  on  all  sides  by  foreign  races.  Within  this 
island  the  core  was  held  by  the  Iroquois,  a  confed- 
eracy which  represented  the  ideal  of  savage  existence.  ^'■'"'"'"''" 
They  occupied  the  region  immediately  south  of  the  Upper  St. 
Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario.  Skirting  their  somewhat  irregu- 
lar domain  on  all  sides  but  the  north  and  east  lay  the  con- 
geners of  the  Iroquois,  known  as  the  Hurons,  the  Tobacco 
nation,  the  Neuters,  the  Eries,  and  the  Andastes,  —  this  range 
of  people  making  a  sweep  from  the  northwest  at  Georgian 
Bay  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Susquehanna  on  the  south. 
Thus  these  cousins  of  the  Iroquois  pressed  in  upon  the  country 
of  the  confederates  on  all  sides.  They  had  found  their  positions 
by  no  means  comfortable,  for  their  brethren  at  the  core,  the 
Iroquois  people,  were  cruelly  hostile  to  all  of  them,  forcing 
them  not  only  to  band  together,  but  also  to  form  alliances  with 
the   remoter  Algonquins.     The   only  exception  was  with   the 


fli  ; 


116 


iVAR,    TRADE,   AND  MISSIONS. 


^!' 


Neuters  who  suffered  both  the  Ilurons  and  Iroquois  to  raid 
across  then-  territory  along,  the  Niagara,  but  con.pelled  the.u  o 
be  annca  >le  if  they  met  in  their  villages.  We  have  see  It 
Champlam  had  already  provoked  the  hostility  ot  the  L-onuo; 
and  the  further  alliance  whieh  he  was  now  Lking  wi  1  Te' 
Hurons  through  priestly  service  was  sure  to  serve  as  a  new 
pretext  for  the  confederates'  fierce  persecutions  ol  tTe  hZ 

Champlain  was  quite  ready  to  meet  this  hostility,  and  was 

a'SrX     ^Z!K,  '''Z  *° '-^"t^^^P'-^t^  it-    Accordingly,  he  planned 
in,^„o„,       With  the  St.  Lawrence  Indians  an  invasion  of   the 

volved  too  r*^"'"'  '""^*'\   ^^''  ^'^"^^  ^'y  Lake  Champlain  in- 
volved too  long  a  march  through  the  enemy's  country   for  the 

l™;^    f  thf  T'r'^'T:  ''''''''  they  Intended  £  attact^ 
lay  south  o    the  eastei^  end  of  Lake  Ontario.     ^Moreover,  the 
French  leader  expected  that,  by  a  circuitous  route  through  the 
country  of  his  allies,  he  could  increase  his  force  as  he  proc^e  ded 
The  path  marked  out,  however,  lengthened  the  maich  to  not 
much  short  of  a  thousand  miles.     He  started  on  this  recrlhio 
service  accompanied  by  Brule,  the  interpreter,  a  FrencH::;!^*! 
S?La^""'«  ^''\  ^'^"^"''^    .'^""^Se^'     0"  July  9,   with   such   com! 
panions,  and  in  two  canoes,  he  began  the  ascent  of  the 
Ottawa.     His  passage  of  it  with  Vignau  had  already  fam  lit 

Deeause  ot  that  bootless  expedition  to  the  delusive  northern 
sea  that  he  tribes  through  whose  territory  he  now  pa  sed 
recognized  one  whom  they  had  already  known,  and  Zunot 
readily  serve.  From  the  ,,ney  of  the  Ottawl  he  c  ot^  Z 
hvidc  and  reached  Lake  Nipissing,  whence  he  continued  by 
Its  outflowing  stream  to  the  Geor^rian  Bav  P.  i  •  .  ,  ^ 
.ecently  p^W  out  that  a  s„b.a:r,:"of  Int^tSa'S 
near  Lake  >.,p,.s,„g  would  turn  the  water  ot  the  Great  Lakes  fo 

o  r:ut'"To  r"T "'  -""^ » r-tieabie::': 

101  navigation  270  miles  shorter  than  by  Lake  Erie  -ind 
Ontario;  mdeed.  the  evideiiee  seems  to  be  that  this  was  the 
ehannel  to  the  .ea  in  the  geological  period,  and  it  has  Teen  in 

nS::  MWe?  TTl  '■""r.'°  ""^  "PP^^  ''"^-  known  to  t: 
Jndians  followed  by  Champlam,  and  adopted  by  the  eno-i„eors 
of  the  Canadian  Pacifie  Railway  e«=iiiecrs 

Champlain  next  erept  by  the  lake  shore  along  the  extreme 


ir 


CHA  MPL  A  IN'S   CA  MP  A IGN. 


117 


southern  part  of  this  arm  of  Lake  Huron,  to  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Huron  viUages.  Plere  that  leader  found  Le  Caron  at  \m 
missionary  work,  and  eight  Frenchmen  from  the  Recollects'  com- 
pany  joined  in  the  march.  Word  now  reached  this  gatherin"- 
host  that  a  body  of  Andastes,  living  abcixt  the  headwaters  of 
the  Susquehanna,  were,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred,  anxious 
to  take  part  in  this  attack  upon  their  common  enemy.  The 
Andastes  villages  lay  beyond  the  Iroquois  country  to  the  soutli, 
and  they  could  approach  the  confederates'  fort  from  the  side 
opposite  to  the  Huron  attack.  It  was  accordingly  necessary 
that  communication  should  be  opened  with  these  proposed 
allies,  in  order  that  their  attack  should  be  well-timed.  Brule 
volimteered  to  reach  them.  He  succeeded  in  passing  the  hos- 
tile villages  of  the  Iroquois,  possibly  by  the  route  indicated 
by  the  dotted  line  in  Champlain's  map  of  1632,  but  was  not 
able  to  get  the  reinforcement  to  the  attack  in  season,  as  we 
shall  see. 

Moving  on  fron^  the  Huron  country,  the  savage  force,  accom- 
panied by  Champlain  and  his  compatriots,  turned  towards  the 
southeast,  and  finally  struck  the  course   of   the  Trent,  which 
easily  conducted  them  to  the  borders  of  Lake  Ontario.'    They 
reached  its  shores  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  modern  Kingston. 
Here  they  embarked  in  their  canoes,  and  crossing  the  lake  by 
skirting  a  line  of  intervening  islands,  the  native  flotilla  made  a 
variegated  shou   on  the   mirroring  water.      There   is  not  an 
agreement  among  investigators  upon  the  exact  route  which  was 
taken,  but  somewhere  on  the  shore  which  stretches  south  of 
SacketL's  Harbor,  the  party  landed,  and  concealed  their  canoes 
in  a  neighboring  thicket.     There  was  before  them   a  march 
inland  and  almost  due  south.     The  local  antiquaries  have  en- 
deavored  by  examining  the  ground,  and  by  following   Cham- 
plain's  details  of  his  march,  to  determine  the  precise  site  of 
the  fortified  town  of  the  Onondagas,  which  they  sought.     Mr. 
O.  H.  Marshall  and  others  turn  the  route  after  crossing  the  out- 
let of  Lake  Oneida  to  the  southwest,  towards  a  position  on  Onon- 
daga Lake.     General  John  S.  Clark,  who  has  secured  a  more 
general  acceptance  for  his  views,  shapes  the  invaders'  course 
rather  to  the  southeast,  and  brings  them  to  a  point  on  a  small 
pond,  where  he  finds  remains  ..n  the  ground  which  serve,  as  he 
thinks,  to  identify  the  spot.     These  traces  conform  in  the  main 


ly 

ii 


,  i 


ill 


1*1 

t 


rriBi 


118 


WAR,    TRADE,  AND  MISSIONS. 


to  a  plan  of  the  fortress,  which  Champlain  depicts  in  one  of 
the  plates  accompanyiug  his  narrative.     The  later  writers,  like 

Shea,  Slafter,  and  Park- 
man,    follow     General 
Clark's  lead  with  scarce- 
ly   any    hesitation.     Tho 
Indian   stronghold  \wi3 
hexagonal  in  form,  with 
four   rows  ui  lofty  pali- 
sades,   interlaced    with 
withes.     These  walls  sup- 
ported a  gallery  for  war- 
riors, which   ran   around 
the  top.     From  the  side 
next  the  pond,  water  was 
introduced  and  conducted 
to    gutters,   which   could 
be  discharged  upon  fires, 
if  built  against  the  outer 
palisades. 

It  was  before  this  for- 
tress that  Champlain  and 
his  allies  apiDeared  on 
October  10,  1615.  The 
attack  on  the  part  of  the 
savages  was  a  wild  hurry- 


CHAMPLAIN'S   ROUTE,  1C15. 


10,  l(il5. 
Tlie  fort 
Attacked. 


.ji«.i*^«^cj  >»<.io  a,  Willi  nuny- 

scurry  of  boisterous  movement,  and  some  time  passed  before 
October        Champlain    could    temper   their   frenzied   zeal.     He 
caused  a  tower  to  be  built,  and  put  some  of  his  marks- 
^  men  in  it,  to  be  pushed  up  to  overtop  the  palisades. 

Ihis  worked  very  well ;  but  all  his  precautions  to  regulate  the 
attempts  to  fire  the  timbers  of  the  outer  defenses  failed,  throuoh 
the  nnsdirected  precipitancy  of  his  Indians.  Some  of  the  be- 
siegers were  wounded,  and  Champlain  himself  had  to  draw 
hostile  arrows  from  his  own  knee  and  ankle. 

When  the  assailants  found  they  had  made  no  impression  on 
the  defenses,  they  slirank  as  Indians  always  do  at  a  repulse, 
ana  the  disabled  Champlain  was  unequal  to  th<^  task  of  hold- 
ing taem  to  the  attack.  The  whole  mass  of  shrieking  savages 
accordingly  feU  back  under  cover  of  the  woods.     They  were 


CHAMPLAIN'S  RETREAT. 


119 


rea(y  however,  to  renew  tlie  onset,  if  Hrule  and  hh  five  Imn- 
(red  Andastes  .should  come  to  their  assistance.  Brule  was  three 
days  away  amonjr  the  villaf,a's  of  that  people,  who  liad  not  yet 
unshed  then-  revelries  at  the  prospect  of  punishing  the  Iroquois. 
iSruJe  proved  powerless  to  move  them  on. 


THE   OXONDAGA    FORT. 

[After  Clianipliiiii's  Sketcli.] 

thJiTfT  °^  ^^*^*"^«^•  "^^  P'-^lt^y  skirmishing  followed,  and 

the  Andastes  not  appearing,  a  retreat  was  begun.     If  ,, 

the  shatters    horde  had  waited   two  or  thiee   days   '~^''" 

unable  o  bear  Ins  weight  was  placed  in  a  basket  slung  from 
men  s  shoulders,  and  ui  this  mode  he  was  borne  away  from  a 

oont  a  t  to  his  heedless  onset  at  Ticonderoga  six  years  before, 
iha  foolish  precipitancy  was  avenged.  His  straggling  force 
reached  the  lake  without  serious  interruption  from  S  pursued 


1 


III 


:ii' 


120 


WAP,    TRADE,   AND  MISSIONS. 


The  fugitives  found  their  canoes  untouched,  and  embarked ; 
and  were  soon  on  the  northern  shore  of  Ontario. 

The  Ilurons  seem  to  have  had  a  purpose  in  keeping  Cham- 
jdain  with  them  through  the  winter;  or  at  least  ho  was  not  able 
to  Hnd  any  guide  to  accompany  liim  to  tlie  settlements.  The 
savages  tarried  for  a  while  on  the  border  of  the  lake,  to  kill  a 
winter's  supi)ly  of  deer.  The  rest  gave  Champlain's  wounds 
uec.,  1(515.  time  to  heal.  When  the  frosts  of  December  ensued, 
r.  turi."''''''  and  the  ground  was  frozen,  the  trails  became  easier  to 
traverse,  and  the  Ilurons  with  their  guest  departed 
for  their  towns. 


Ill 


If'h    ( 


THE    HURON    COUNTRY. 
[From  Creuxius.'} 

It  was  thus  that  Champlain  spent  the  winter  of  1G15-16  in 
the  Huron  country,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Simcoe.  The 
passing  nionths  gave  him  opi)ortunities  to  visit  the  adjacent  and 
allied  tribes,  where  he  found  much  matter  for  his  note-books. 
He  records  that  the  Indians  could  give  him  no  knowledge  of 
chaniriain  ^vhat  lay  beyond  the  3Ier  Bonce  (Lake  Huron),  ex- 
di»unt  "  cept  that  prisoners  taken  from  the  more  distant  tribes 
''^°'"^'  had  said  that  still  farther  on  towards  the  setting  sun 
there  was  a  people  who  had  light-colored  hair  and  looked  like 
the  French. 

When  the  spring  came,  Champlain  took  advantage  of  a  party 


ETIENNE  IUtL'L£. 


121 


of  Indians  going  eastward  to  accompany  them.     On  reaching 
Montreal,   he    found    Pontgrave   just    arrived    from 
trance,  and  got  the  hitest  news.     On  July  11,  ho  was  A^iut^' 
again  in  (Quebec,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  a  year.   In  **""*"" 
the  few  succeeding  days,  he  made  plans  for  enlarging  and  repair- 
ing  the  buildings  ot  the  post,  and  on  July  20  was  on  „  t 
his  way  to  Tadoussac.     Embarking  there  on  August  Ij    *'"''"'^«" 
he  arrived  at  IIonHeur  on  September  10.  ' 

Champlain  was  again  in  the  colony  in  1617,  but  he  has  left 
no  recoi-d  of  vvhat  ho  did.     Pacificpie  du  Plessis  founded  a  mis- 
sion  at  Ihree  Rivers  which  served  to  give  stability  to  ,., 
a  trading-post  which  hi.     been  maintained  there  for  ^»"«J'' 
some  years;  and  the  settlement  soon  became  and  long  remained 
a  chief  centve  for  the  hardy  voyageurs  of  the  country.     This 
class  did  little,  however,  to  introduce  family  life,  and  it  .vas 
hoped  that,  when  Louis  Ilebert  and  his   household  ,,.,,^ 
arrived    at  Quebec,  not  far  from  the   same  time,  a  "*''^'^- 
beginning  was  made  in  the  more  permanent  elements  of  colo- 
nial life;  but  Hubert  remained  for  a  long  time  the  only  con- 
spicuous  example  of  a  farmer  in  the  valley.     He  was  an  apoth- 
ecary by  training,  but   he   had  exhibited  while   domiciled   in 
Acadia  a  liking  for  the  soil  and  its  labors.     He  stands  in  the 
Canadian  genealogies  to-day  as   the   progenitor  of   numerous 
representatives  who  rejoice  in  their  descent  from  the  man  who 
first  practically  grasped  the  essential  truth  of  colonial  policy 
and  worked  the  soil  like  one  bound  to  it.  ' 

^  It  was  during  Cliamplain's  sojourn  in  the  valley  in  1618  that 
his  old   interpreter,  Etieune  Bruld,  returned  to  the 
-settlement.     The  governor  had  last  seen  him  when  he  Bnfi.'a 
was  dispatched  from  the  Huron  company  to  bring  the   *""^"'"«''- 
Andastes  to  the  attack  on  the  Iroquc's  fort,  three  years  before. 
Brule  had  now  the  opportunity  to  disclose  the  cause  of  his  faill 
ure,  and    to  explain  his  later  wanderings.     It  appeared  that 
when  Brule  finally  brought  the  Andastes  to  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Iroquois  stronghold,  .^  was  only  to  learn  that  the  Ilurons 
had  departed,  and  there  was   no   alternative  left  but  a   like 
retreat  on  their  part.      Brule  remained    the  following  winter 
with  his  savage  friends,  but  later,  it  would  appear,  he  passed 
down   the  Susquehanna  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  by  this  ad- 
venture  he  had  established  the  direction  of  its  course.     If  Sa- 


122 


WAli,    TRADE,   AND  MISSIONS. 


f!        ( 


gard's  account  is  to  be  trusted,  Brule  had  iu  some  manner  also 
made  liis  way  westward,  so  as  to  find  the  shores  of  Lake  Supe- 
nor.     He  averred  that  it  took  nine  days  to  reach  the  western 
extremity  of  some  such  water.     The  stories  which  he  told  of  a 
region  of  copper  mines  point  to  this  lake,  and  Sagard  says  that 
Jirule  showed  to  him  an  ingot  of  that  metal  which  was  found 
there.     In  making  his  return  journey,  the  wanderer  fell  among 
the  Iroquois.     He  was  wont  to  point  to  his  wounds  to  show 
that  he  had  undergone  tortures  at  their  hands.     His  own  story 
betrays  an  abundain-e  of  tact  in  ingi-atiating  himself  with  sav- 
ages wherever  he  went.     His  spirit  and  facile  habit  served  to 
convert  the  Iroquois   enmity  into   a  liking  for  him,  and  they 
made  it  easy  for  him  to  reach  the  Huron  country,  whence  he 
could  join  the  summer  flotilla,  descending  the  Ottawa. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  pioneers  to  follow  up 
these  discoveries  of  Brule  —  whatever  they  may  have  been — 
JeanNicoiet.  '^^^  ^  yo^"^8'  Nomiau,  Jean  Nicolet,  who  arrived  just 
at  this  time  m  the  valley,  and  was  sent  by  Champlain 
among  the  Algonquius  to  inure  himself  to  hardship  and  to 
learn  their  language.     We  shall  encounter  him  again. 

Early  the  next  spring,  Champlain,  once  more  in  Paris  pro- 

r,„p,.„     '"^'^'^  ,^^'?^  1^'  1*^1^)  ^  ^i^^"«<^  to  print  a  ne^;  vol- 
printsanew  ""^6  ot  his  cxperiences.     It  was  to  cover  the  interval 
Since  his  incursion  into  the  Iroquois  country  in  1615 
The  book  was  better  calculated,  perhaps,  than  either  of  those 
preceding  it  to  awaken  the  curious  reader.    It  covered  a  lamer 
field  of  exploration,  and  gave  be^er  glimpses  of  the  country 
and  wha^  it  could  produce.     It  mingled  the  excitements  of  war 
with  the  horrors  of  torture.     It  afforded  greater  details  of  life 
among  the  natives.     The  drawings,  whose  production  had  be- 
guiled weary  hours  during  his  confinement  in  the  Huron  vil- 
lages had  passed  the  hand  of  the  engraver,  and  helped  to  give 
a  lively  interest  to  the  book.     Its  publication  was  successful 
enough,  it  we  may  judge  by  its  passing  to  a  second  edition  the 
lollowing  year. 

Iu  the  autumn  of  1G19,  the  Recollects  began  to  make  prepa- 
rations for  building  on  the  St.  Charles,  opposite  Que- 
bec, and  on  June  3,  1620,  six  months  before  the  Pil- 
gTims  began  their  meeting-house  on  the  Burial  Hill  at 
Plymouth,  those  priests  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the 


1020.     Tlie 

lilTnllfctS 

buiiil  a 
clnirch  at 
Quebec. 


II 


THE  FRENCH  OCCUPATION. 


123 


earliest  church  erected  in  French  America.  It  was  palisaded 
like  a  stronghold,  and  there  proved  to  be  need  of  it.  The  En"-- 
hsh  Separatists  at  Plymouth  constructed  their  gathering-place 
with  battlements  for  their  small  guns,  and  there  was  no  need  of 
It.  lor  fifty  years  and  more  they  lived  in  peace  with  their 
savage  neighbors. 

The  Indians  surrounding  the  settlement  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
were  in  a  fair  way  to  attain  the  Clhristian  mode  of  warfare. 
It  ^ye  may  believe  Champlain,  two  vessels  from  Kochelle,  trad- 
ing in  the  river  this  very  season,  began  the  practice  of 
selling  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  natives.     Matters  tl,™:  if 
had  been  growing  more  and  more  trying  for  Cham-  '*"""' 
plain.     His  colonizing  purpose  and  the  trading  aims  of   the 
merchants  were  greatly  at  variance,  and  grew  more  so.     Such 
practices  as  this  of  supplying  weapons  to  the  savages  could  but 
prove  dangerous  to  a  community  which  was  left  to  pass  the 
winters  in  small  numbers,  after  the  fur-ships  had  departed  in 
«ie  autumn  and  the  traders  had  plunged  into  the  wilderness. 
This  danger  was  presented  to  the  council  of  state,  and  an  in- 
junction was  served  on  the  traders  to  prevent  the  sellino-  of 
arms.  * 

In  1620,  the  vice-royal  office  was  transferred  to  the  Duke  of 
Montmorency,  who   at  once  recommissioned  Champlain,  with 
ampler  powers  to  enforce  measures  of  safety.    Champlain,  leav- 
ing France  in  May,  1G21,  found    the  colony  on  his 
arrival  in  a  sadly  disorganized  state,     lie  saw  that  ciiiu„p,ai„ 
such  a  promise  of  stability  as  would  come  from  greater  "'  *'"'"'""' 
permanence  of  living  would  do  much  to  encourage  tlic  droopino- 
spirits.     He  endeavored,  therefore,  to  arrange  for  a  more  syst 
tematic  cultivation  of  the  soil;  but  he  natm-ally  encountered 
tlie  opposition  of  the  trading  interest. 

The  purely  mercantile  character  of  the  French  occupation  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  did  not  esca])e  the  notice  of  their 
English  rivals.  Sir  William  Alexander,  in  a  tract  ^^^S" 
which  he  published  in  1G24  to  induce  a  more  active  """'""""■ 
immigration  to  his  province  of  New  Scotland  (Nova  Scotia) 
on  the  part  of  his  countrymen,  accounts  for  tlie  want  of  stabil- 
ity in  the  French  colony,  in  that  they  were  "  only  desirous  to 
know  the  nature  and  .piality  of  the  soil  and  did  never  seek  to 
have  [its  products]  in  such  quantity  as  was  requisite  for  their 


:  jr- 


124 


»:. 


m        I 


WAR,    TRADE,  AND  MISSIONS. 


Moiitino 
rency  and 


maintenance  affecting  more  by  making  a  needless  ostentation 

that  the  world  should  know  they  had  been  there,  more  in  love 

with  glory  than  with  virtue.  .  .  .  Being  always  subject  to  div" 

sions  among  themselves,  it  was  impossible  that  they  could  sub- 

sist,  which  proceeded  sometimes  from  emulation  or  envy,  and  at 
other  t,         f,,„,  ,,^  ,^^.^^^^  ^^  ^j^^  .^^  ^arul  at 

loathing  labor,  could  be  commanded  by  none  " 

This  thwarting  of  the  aims  of  true  colonization  by  the  trad- 
ing associates  induced  Montmorency  to  dissolve  the 
ChampTarn.    ^^[^  Company  and  create  a  new  one.     Pie  again  placed 
Champlam  in  charge,  with  renewed  powers   of    ad- 
ministration   while  the  control  of  the  business  interests   was 
committed  to  the    Huguenots,    GuiUaume   de   Caen   and    hi 
nephew  Emeric.     The  older  company  proved  too  strong  to  be 
suppressed,  and  a  rivalry  between   the  two   followed,  only  to 
result  m  the  end  in  a  consolidation  under  a  single  organization. 
Amid   all   these   intestine   disputes,   Champlain    could    but 
T^lt^''   ?'''''7  "'^'^^  ^^  ^•'^^ger  rivalries.      With  Calvurt  at 
nefghtr:      ^  ^'■'■>^^^"^^'  ^^  ^^cwfouudland,  aiid  that  island  become 
_  •      a  base  for  operations,  the  English  were  not  likely  to 
remain  as  inactive  as  they  had  been.     Champlain  must  have 
heard  moreover,  how  busy  his  neighbors  on  the  New  En-land 
coast  had  become.     Dermer  had  just  before  this  been  exploring 
south  fxx>m  Monhegan;  and  j^erhap.  it  was  at  Boston  harbor 
that  he  fancied  he  had  stumbled  on  a  western  passao-e  "  which 
may  hereafter  be  both  honorable  and  profitable  to  His  Majesty  " 
When  this  same  commander  was  at  Manhattan,  he  had  similar 
hopes  from  stories  of  inland  watercourses  which  came  to  his 
ears.  ^  Not  far  from  the  same  time,  Purchas  in  England  was 
learning  that  the  Indians  about  the  Chesapeake  were  reporting 
upon  ships  seen  at  the  northwest,  supposed  by  those  who  heard 
tl7    tales  to  have  come  from  Japan.     And  so  along  a  northern 
and  southern  parallel  there  was  a  race  for  the  China  Seas. 

Nor  was  it  the  English  alone  who  gave  him  uneasiness.  The 
ships  for  Quebec  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the  Basques,  Flemings,  and 
Spaniards  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf,  and  Champlain's  supply- 
vessels  were  even  occasionally  brought  under  the  guns  of  the 
httle  Basque  stronghold  at  the  Island  of  St.  John.  Once,  indeed, 
a  hanly  intruder  had  dared  to  run  his  ship  up  to  Tadoussac.  If 
Champlain  had  chanced  to  see  the  Dutch  map  of  Jacobsz,  just 


TREATY    WITH  THE  INDIANS. 


125 


itentation 
i-e  in  love 
it  to  tlivi- 
ould  sub- 
'■y,  and  at 
who, 


me, 


the  trad- 
5olve  the 
in  placed 
of  ad- 
3sts  was 
and  his 
ng  to  be 

only  to 
nization. 
Lild  but 
Jvert  at 

become 
likely  to 
ist  have 
l^ngland 
:ploring 

harbor 
"  which 
ajesty." 
similar 

to  his 
nd  was 
porting 
)  heard 
)i'thern 
s. 

.  The 
§'s,  and 
lupply- 
of  the 
ndeed, 
ic.  If 
iz,  just 


now  (1G21)  made  public,  he  would  have  read  with  some  solici- 
tude  the  legend  of  "Nouvelle  Bisquaye  "  about  the  mouth  of 
the  Saguenay.  We  can  understand,  then,  why  it  was  that 
Champlain  thought  of  the  insecurity  of  Quebec,  and  planned  a 
larger  fortress  on  the  summit  of  Cape  Diamond. 


But  there  were  other  more  immediate  dangers  for  the  little 
colony,  which  hardly  ever  numbered  in  these  years  above  a  few 
score  souls.  During  the  summer  of  1622,  thirty  Iroquois  ,002    i^o. 
canoes  were  observed  to  pass  Three  Rivers,  proceeding  £"'^ ""'" 
towards  Quebec.     Their   subsequent  attack  on   the  ^euce!'^"'" 


I 


V  r 


B.Mi  ; 


it 


in 


I 


i     -, 


II       ! 


126 


WAIi,    TRADE,  AND  MISSIONS. 


Eecollect  convent  on  the  St.  Charles  1.  not  mentioned  either 
byChamplamorSagarcWhieh  has  thrown  some  doubt  on  the 
recital  gxven  m  Le  Clercq.     Chumplaiu  indeed  was  absent  a 
the  t:me,  and  the  RecoUect  father  who  tells  us  how  the  savL 
were  repulsecl  says  that  he  got  his  information  from  Sm 
Couillard,  who  was  within  the  palisades  all  the  while.    This  pos- 
sible  danger  passed^  it  was  not  Icng  before  two  Iroquois  envoys 
1024.  Treaty  ^''^".^'^  *«  Quebcc  and  began  negotiations,  which  in  the 
^^        ,pnng  of  1624  ended  in  a  large  concourse  of  Ilurons 
Algonquins,    Montagnais,    and    Iroquois   coming    tJ 
Three  Rivers  to  light  their  council  fires  and  confirm  a  pact      If 
he  peace  had  come  earlier,  Champlain  might  have  profited  by 
«^e  quiet,  and  had  the  opportunity  to  confirm  the  stories  of 
Bnde ;  but  he  had  followed  his  last  trail,  and  the  mysteries  o 
the  west  were  left  for  others  to  solve. 

The  governor  soon  welcomed  (1623)  two  more  Recollects  to 

sagard.         ^^f  ^olony,  one  of  whom  was  Gabriel  Sagard,  upon 

whose  printed  account  of  Canada  we  must  in  some 

measure  depend,  as  our  story  goes  on.    With  the  satisfaction  of 

tip  r  nl        l^  T^.      ""!  f  °'^  "'^^  "^  *^^  ^"^«*  ^l^i^h  had  set- 
tled along  the  borders  of  his  government,  and  prepared  to  tell 

t^lTV'     •  r      !^  Sr  '*?-y  ""^  ^  ^^""  y^^^«'  ^^evotion  to  his 
pf^liiSr-  interests,  Champlain  left  Quebec  on  August  15   16'>4 
Que.e,.,ta  His  wife  was  with  him,  for  he  had  married  HolC;; 
Boullc,  on  his  last  visit  to  France,  and  she  had  passed 
these  four  years  of  novel  experiences  amid  associations  for  which 

tow t'l62l  "'  ''''''  ^''''  '''-     '''  ^^^^^^^  ^'  ""--l^Ve,  Ot 

During  the  two  years  which  Champlain  now  passed  in  France 
there  were  some  important  movements  touching  the  future  of 
Canada.     In  the  first  place,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  sold  his 
vicero3.Uty  to  the  Duke  of  Ventadour,  and  February 


l(I-'5.    Again    ^  _         -        -  -*    '  v^^'umium,  iiim    r'pmMi'ii-TT- 

"• 15,  1025,  Champlain  wa,  created  the  new  "celC 


sioiied. 


V  --v-w..v,Li   uiic  now  vicerov  s 

nffor,k  .1  ''^''''''l'''Z":  /'  ^'  '^'"""'^^  *^^'"^  '"'^  "^^^  commission 
affords  the  earliest  official  record  of  a  purpose  to  find  a  way  to 

China      Kingsford,  in  his  recent  Jlistoy  of  Canada,  suggests 

that  the  language  was  inserted  by  Jesuit  influence;  yet  in  a 

petition  in  1G21  the  Recollects  reminded  the  king  tiiat  "  W  a 

::~;:ned.''™  '''''''^-  ^  ^--^^  *«^-  ^^^^^ 


SIR    WILLIAM  ALEXANDER.  127 

arZelTt  "^T  ^.^^■™^^";  ^^--^^^  P"Wishecl  his  Fncour- 
afcmentto  Colomcs,  the  theoretical  geography  of 
Champlain  respecting  the  western  waters  had  become  ^^^' 
known  m  England.  Alexan.ler,  referring  to  it,  savs  '"*^"""^- 
that  at  the  western  end  of  a  range  of  Idces,  th  Xneh  "did 
find  salt  water,"  and  that  great  ships  seen  there  S  made 
Champlau.  beheve  "that  a  passage  might  be  there  to  the  Bay 

^^ay  to  Uima.       It  was  at   this  very  time  that  the  Spanish 
geographers  were  beginning  to  detach  California  from  the  "in 
land,  and  to  open  channels  inland  from  the  Pacific,  so   hat    pel 

t^  fe?'7'r  '^'"'  '^**^^  ''""^''"'y  "^  eo'nnecti:!  't  e 
J^iench  eports  of  western  waters  approached  by  the  St  Law- 
rence valley  with  these  supposed  developments  along  the  Pacific 

At  this  time,  moreover,  Alexander  was  interested  in  a  politi- 
cal movement  somewhat  ominous  for  New  France.     In 
16L1  (September  10),  the  English  king  had  granted  l^xTS 
to  Jnm  all  that  territory  between  tlie  St.  Lawrence  '"'"■ 
and  the  sea,  which  lies  east  of  the  St.  Croix  River.     "To  be 
holden  of  us,  from  our  kingdom  of  Scotland  as  a  part  thereof," 
ran  this  kmgly  purpose  to  carve  a  province  of  about  54,000 
square  rm  es  out  of    disputed  territory.     Alexander  was  duis 

or^Novn   ^''  ;"^^"^T'ir'^  T^''   '^''  "^"^^  «^  N«^^  Scotland 
or  Nova  Scotia  to  hold,  and  govern  as   lieutenant-general,  a 
region  that  had  already  been  included  in  the  French  kino-'s 
grants  to  De  Monts  in  1603.     The  English  patentee  had  not 
been  able  to  start  settlements  when  in    1G24    he  issued  the 
tract  to  which  we  have  already  --eferred,  as  a  means  of  propa- 
gating a  colonizing  spirit.     As  a  further  inducement  to  the 
same  end  and  to  give  dignity  and  some  financial  standing  to  his 
project  Alexander  prevailed  upon  King  James,  and  afterwards 
upon   King  Charles,  to  create  an  order  of  tributary  Knights- 
Jiaronets  who  should  pay  each  a  thousand  marks  into  the  trea- 
sury ot  the  colony,  and  receive  in  return  a   grant  of  land  to 
support  then-  dignity,  and  these   baronies  were  to  include  some 
at  Anticosti,  directly  in  the  approach  to  Canada.     The  rank 
was  further  tokened  in  an  "orange  tawny  silk  ribbon  with  a 
pendent  escutcheon,"  wliich  they  were  privileged  to  wear.     Sir 
V\  ilham  speaks  of  this  grant  to  him  as  "  the  first  national  • 


y 


i 


I 


•  !i:  I 


\h\ 


ll 


'i  i    , 


n 


128 


WAR,    TRADE,  AND  AflSSIONS. 


patent  hat  ever  was  clearly  bounded  within  America,  by  par- 
tus ularhmis  upon  the  earth."  The  patent  had  certainly  a 
distuietive  limitation  which   told  the  French  just  what  they 


ALEXANDER'S  MAP,  1624. 


liad  to  encounter,  and  made  the  bounds  of  Acadia  a  bone  of 
contention  between  the  rival  powers  for  many  generations. 

Unfortunately,  Alexander's  scheme  was  embarrassed  by  the 
very  dignity  which  lie  secured  for  it.      His  plan  of  manorial 


RECOLLECTS  AND  JESUITS. 


129 


i 


;\ 


u 


ng  ts  m  Tvew  Scotlaiul  wa.s  an  attempt  to  plant  medievalism 
m  the  new  woxad  They  shut  out  the  manly  endeavor  of  self- 
respecting,  though  lowly  owners  of  the  soil,  and  the  absence  of 
such  attributes  in  the  settlers  made  them  in  the  end  the  s,,ort 
ot  political  exigencies. 

Ventadour  the  new  viceroy  of  Canada,  was  under  the  influ- 
ence  of    he  Jesuits.     Champlain  had  always  favored  ,.  .  , 
the  Kecollects.     The  members  of  this  last  order  had  '^^^ 
prospered  under  the  eye  of  the  governor,  and  in  1624  some 
recruits  from  Gaspe  had  joined  the  little  body.     They 
had  already  created  five  missions,  -  Tadoussac,  Que-  S„t 
bee,   Three  Kivers,  with  others  among  the  Nipissino-g  '"''• 
and  Hurons.     They  had,  as  we  have  noted,  raised  the  first  stone 
structure  in  the  colony,  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  des  Ano-es 
n  e  have  seen  how  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  in  1622 
this   palisaded   edifice   had   successfuUy  resisted  an   Iroquois 
attack.     Success  had  emboldened  the   fathers,  and  they  had 
petitioned  the  kmg  to  exclude  the  Calvinists  from  the  colony; 
but  Louis  XIII.  was  not  prepared  for  such  a  step.     It  came  a 
tew  years  later,  when  the  strong  spirit  of  Richelieu  willed  it. 

It  the  Recollects  were  in  this  matter  denied  the  aid  of  the 
crown,  there  were  willing  abettors  in  their  schemes,  which  they 
could  engage,  and  so  they  invited  the  Jesuits  to  make  common 
cause   with   them.     On  June  19,  1625,  the  Jesuits,  ,,..    , 
Charles  Lalemant,  Jean  de  Brebeuf,  Enemond  Masse    "--ri/e';'"" 
Franc;ois  Charton,  Gilbert  Burel,  and  a  sixth  of  unknown  name, 
appeared  in  Quebec.     Being  denied  hospitality  by  the   civic 
authorities,  they  were  at  once  received  under  the  roof  of  the 
Recollect  monastery,  and  began  to  look  about  to  establish  a 
house  of  their  own.     The  spot  they  selected  was  beyond  the 
bt  Charles,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Lairet,  where  Champlain 
believed  Cartier  to  have  wintered,  and  where  after  ninety  years 
there  were  still  some  traces  of  the  earlier  occupancy.     It  wa. 
the  1st  of  September,  1625,  when  the  Jesuits  with  due  cere- 
mony  took  possession  of  the  ground,  and  on  April  6, 
1626  they  found  themselves  in  their  new  abode.    Two  TL,^ 
days  later,  the  Pere  Brebeuf,  who  had  been  amon-  the  "'"'■ 
Indians  during  the  winter,  studying  their  manners  and  tongue, 
and  preparing  for  larger  experiences,  rejoined  his  companions. 
Ihe  Jesuits  began  their  labors  amid  dissensions,  whioli  thpir 


. 


' 


130 


IVAR,    TRADE,   AND  MISSIONS. 


%,i 


Clminplain 

arrives, 

July. 


Tor'll''''^  T^''^'  ^^'  •'^'"^•^  ^^  Champlaiu  to  Quebec  in 
1026  .iKl  much  to  s.nooth  asperities.  A  letL.  which  to  A" 
CharJes  Lalemant  sent  to  Paris,  and  which  appeared  in  tie 
J/.^ao-e  Francois,  did  not  tell  a  comforting  story 

Chan^plain  had  arrived  on  July  5,  102G,  accon^Lanied  by  his 
brother-m-law,  Lustache  Boullc.    He  found  the  colony 
only  just  recovering  from  the  distresses  of  the  whf. 
ter.    A  tamine  had  threatened  tlie  settlement  and  H,o 
*„sg,,„g  settle.,  had  been  forced  to  send  to  (S  'r  "„' 

1J.0  ,,ers,ste„cy  of  their  leader,  had  alone  made  the  company 
desist  from  a  imrpose  to  abandon  the  place  """"Pany 

s  Jiitt'srcr  «rrf7  'f  ■;,""■"  "^r* '» ^'^ 

J'       i^ew  rrance  was  a  face  forcibly  pressed  upon  the 
Rjoheiieu's     «pmt  which  was  now  animating   France.     Cardinal 

nnd   r       1     '      "      '^  ""'^^  ""''  '''^  ">'^  "^^^"^^^^^  «"<=  ^"«  policy, 
and  Canada  was   to  receive  the  impress  of  feudalism.     The 

institutions  of  the  European  past  were  to  be  evolved  amid  the 
An.encan  forests,  and  just  at  a  t^ne  when  there  was  already 
planned  among  the  neighboring  English,  in  the  compact  of  the 
Mayflower,     a  departure  from  the    old-world   principles  of 
enta  1  and  primogeniture  in  the  elevation  of  equal  rightsf   The 
English  sympathy  with  the  Huguenots  and  the  pretensions  of 
the  English  king  to  territory  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  well 
as  the  mongrel  combination  which  was  now  carrying  on  the 
trade  of  Canada,  were  not  signs  to  be  received  passively  by  a 
mn  like  Richelieu.     The  old  trading  companies  were   swept 
ott  the  board  and  a  new  company,  which  was  commonly  called 
Hundred       *"^  Hundred  Associates,  was  promptly  formed      The 
A«.ociate3,     cardinal  gave  it  his  approval  on  April  29    IQ^l  in 
camp   before   Eochelle,   the   last   of    the   Huguenot 
strongholds.     On  the  Gth  of  May,  1628,  the  Council  of  State 
ratified  the  charter,  and  thenceforth  no  Calvinist  was  to  be 
allowed  to  enter  New  France. 

These  principles  were  hazardous  in  the  struggle  with  the 
Du  eh  and  English  for  the  conquest  of  the  continent.  The 
JJutch  W  est  India  Company  was  planting  along  the  Hudson  a 
sturdy  colony  of  ^^  alloons,  in  sympathy  with  the  Huguenots, 
which  -lucheheu  would  expel.  Their  spirit  was  to  live,  while 
the  manorial  rights  of  the  Van  Rensselaers  and  the  rest,  com- 
pelling the  people  to  scatter  dangerously,  sowed  the  evils  that 


IL. 


i  f 


THE  HUNDRED  ASSOCIATES. 


131 


made  the  country  fall  easily  in  due  time  into  English  hands,  by 
which  a  free  tenure  of  the  soil  was  added  to  the  advantages  pos- 
sessed by  these  other  rivals  of  the  Fi'ench. 

The  royal  articles  of  1G27,  creating  the  powers  of  Richelieu's 
company,  —  which  we  may  read  in  the  Mnrur-e  Franr^ois,  — 
gave  it  jurisdiction  over  a  territory  extending  from  Flo'i-ida  — 
wherever  that  may  end,  for  in  defining  bounds  there  was  no'  at- 
tempt  to  decide  it  —  to  the  arctic  circle  ;  and  east  ;ind  west  from 
TSewfoundland  to  the  great  fresh  lake,  omitting,  for  a  wonder,  to 
extend  it  to  any  salt  water.     Charlevoix  and  most  of  the  writ- 
ers following  him  make  the  grant  to  include  Florida,  but  the 
articles  seem  to  be  plain  that  the  extension  of  the  territoiy  was 
Jrjm  Florida,  which  the  Spaniards  at  that  time  actu- 
ally possessed.     The  conditions  of  this  southern  eoun-  '"'""'^"' 
try  hud  not  indeed  changed  since  the  time  when  Chainplain 
wrote  of  it  in  the  journal  of  his  West  Indian  voyage,  as  "one 
of  the  best  lands  that  can  be  desired ;  very  fertile  if  it  were 
cultivated ;  but  the  king  of  Spain  does  not  care  for  it,  because 
there  are  no  mines  of  gold  or  silver."     What  was  of  more  mo- 
ment to  the  French  of  the  north,  there  were  no  furs  Hiere. 

The  principal  Associates  of  the  Company  of  a  Hundred  were 
Parisians,   and  Kichelieu  was  its    constituted   head.  Ti,e„e^v 
There  was  at  least  a  quarter  of  the  number  to  be  '"^^v^^- 
found  in  Normandy,  and  three  hundred  thousand   livres  had 
been  contributed  to  carry  the  project  on.     The  company  prom- 
ised to  reinforce  the  feeble  colony  by  a  strong  contingent  of 
artisans  and  laborers,  to  be  sent  at  once,  with  all  necessat-y  tools 
and  supphes.     Within  fifteen  years  they  purposed  to  send  over 
^-)ur  thousand  other  colonists,  whose  support  for  three  years  was 
to  be  guaranteed  by  the  Associates.      In  the  spring  of  1628 
their  first  exiKjdition  sailed,  consisting  of  four  armed   vessds 
convoying  eighteen  transports.      They  carried  thirty-five  car- 
noii  to  increase  the  defenses  of  Quebec.     This  fleet,  under  the 
command  of  Claude  de  Roquemont,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
exasperated   Huguenots  and  their  allies,  or,  as  Parkman  ex- 
presses  It,    Roquemont    succumbed   to    "Huguenots    fio-htino- 
under  English  colors."  *        * 

Roquemont  had  sailed  in  April,  but  an  English  fleet  had  o-ot 
the  start  of  him,  for  under  the  pretext  of  relieving  the  Hu"ue- 
nots  at  Rochelle,  the  English  government   had  declared  war 


.1'  • 


■  'll 


132 


WAR,    TRADE,  AND  MISSIONS. 


against  trance.  So  the  occasion  was  seized  to  dispatch  an  ar- 
rj Kr^oe  '"'""^"*  against  Quebec.  The  instigator  of  tlie  move- 
^^'^r^'"    *"'^'"*  •'^'^^'"^  *°  ^'-'^ve  been  a  French  Calvinist,  Micliel, 

c"    w,i.^"*  fl'^  '"'"'  '''^'"  «'''^^  *''°  enterprise  character  were 
Nr  Wdham  Alexander  and  a  Derbyshire  gentleman,  Gervase 
lurke.     Alexander  naturally  looked  upon  the  lordly  territorial 
clauns  of  Kichelieu  as  aimed  in  part  at  his  own  colony  of  New 
bcotland.     Kirke,  who  had  lived  awhile  in  Dieppe  and  had 
Kirke's        married  a  French  woman,  knew  what  a  task  was  be- 
T-  1    .      /o^ehim.     The  king  supplied  letters  of  marque,  and 
Airke  s  eldest  son,  David,  was  made  admiral  of  the  fleet,  with 
two  other  sons  in  subordinate  commands.     This  fleet  was  far 
enough  ahead  of  Roquemont  to  be  able  to  land  a  Scotch  colony 
in  the  territory  of  Sir  William  Alexander,  and  to  sweep  the  St 
Lawrence  of  all  the  French  afloat,  before  Roquemont  was    x- 
pected.     After  this  it  lay  in  wait  for  its  prey  at  Tadoussac. 

On  July  9,  two  little  towers  of  the  fort  in  Quebec  fell  down, 
and  m  the  anxious  state  of  the  garrison  the  sign  seemed  omi- 
nous    On  the  same  day  some  half-famished  men  were  scannino- 
the  distant  reach  of  the  river  to  catch  sight  of  Ro.,uemont  with 
his  expected  succor.     Av'hile  their  hopes  were  proving  vain,  two 
refugees  from  Cape  Tourmente  emerged  from  the  woods  beyond 
the  bt.  Charles,  and  brought  word  that  some  Indians  had  come 
to  that  post  from  below,  who  reported  large  ships  at  Tadoussac. 
fehortly  after,  a  canoe  came  bringing  the  wounded  commander 
ot  the  French  post  at  Cape  Tourmente.     He  said  that  he  had 
escaped  a  party  which  had  been  set  ashore  from  some  strano-e 
ships  to  assail  that  fort,     The  next  day,  some  Basque  fishermen 
pulled  m  under  the  cliff  at  Quebec,  and  delivered  a  messago 
from  the  English  admiral,  which  they  had  undertaken  to  deliver 
Quebec  sum-  ^^   Chauiplain.      It   was   a  courteous   demand  from 
rSe".     ^^V'k<^  for  the  surrender  of  Quebec.     Champlain  had 
neither  provisions  nor  powder  ade,^aate  to  a  defense, 
but  he  answered  as  if  he  had,  and  the  messengers  rowed  back 
with  a  reply  as  courteous  as  Kirke's  summons,  and  quite  as 
confident.    This  show  of  firmness  had  its  effect,  and  Champlain 
was  given  a  respite,  not,  however,  free  from  suspense. 

Meanwhile  Roquemont  with  his  fleet  had  advanced  up  the 
river  almost  to  Tadoussac,  and  had  dispatched  ahead  a  boat  to 


CAPTURE  OF  QUEBEC. 


133 


warn  Champlam  of  h.s  conung.  This  messenger,  approaching 
Tacloussae  saw  tho  English  ships  glide  out  of  the  Sagnenay 
and  turn  down  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  found  cover  for  his  boat 
on  the  bank,  and  K.rke's  ships  passed  without  discoverinr.  him 
They  were  scarcely  out  of  sight,  wnen  reverberations  of  cannoii" 
told  hnn  that  Ivnke  and  Roquemont  had  grappled  in  a  fight. 
Speedmg  on  t()  Quebec,  the  dismayed  messenger  carried  the 
news  to  Champlmn.  The  governor  remained  in  a  trying  state 
of  uncertamty  tdl  some  Indians  brought  him  word  that  the  fic^ht 
had  ended  \v  disaster  to  the  French  fleet.  " 

Kirke  indeed  had  captured  such  of  the  ships  as  he  did  not 
sink,  and,  findnig  both  glory  and  booty  in  the  victory 
he  gave  up  Quebec,  and  sailed  for  England  with  the  «.« FrS' 

prizes.  fleet. 

The  winter  of  1G28-29  was  a  weary  and  disheartening  one 
for  Champlain.  There  was  IJttle  to  eat,  an.l  by  spring  ,«.,!,, 
this  little  became  nothnig.  The  only  hope  of  sustain-  Q"«'^««- 
nig  life  was  in  digging  roots  and  gathering  acorns.  When  even 
these  failed,  the  colonists  clung  to  a  hope  of  seizing,  if  they 
could,  one  of  the  palisaded  granaries  of  the  Iroquois.  Ilore 
they  could  perhaps  defend  themselves  till  relief  came.  Most 
of  the  sufferers  stood  fast  by  their  settlement ;  a  few  souo-ht 
asylums  among  the  Indians.  " 

Meanwhile  Champlain  was  without  any  tidings  of  the  effect 
in  Europe  of  Kirke's  enterprise.     It  had  indeed  excited  a  new 
cupidity  among   the  English  trading  adventurers.     In  Febru- 
ary,  1G29,  a  royal  patent  was  made  out  for  Sir  William  Alex- 
ander,  to  constitute  him  the  "sole  trader  "  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
valley,  to  authorize  him  to  settle  a  plantation  anywhere  along 
the  river  from  below  Tadoussac  to  Quebec,  to  confiscate  the 
property  of  interlopers,  and  to  seize  French  or  Spanish  ships 
and  drive  off  the  French  that  might  be  found  on  the  banks.       ' 
One  morning  in  July,  1G29,  an  Indian  saw  some  masts  above 
the  trees  on  the  island  of  Orleans.     Other  savages 
came  in  and  reported  that  they  had  seen  English  ships  QueVcst. 
moving  up  the  channel.     Champlain  could  doubt  no  '"""''• 
longer  that  the  enpmy  had  returned.     Before  long,  the  hostile 
vessels  glided  into  the  basin,  and  looked  like  cockboats  as  the 
governov  with  a  little  squad  of  pallid  and  ragged  adherents 
looked  dov.n  upon  them  from  the  ramparts  of  the  feeble  fort. 


If, 


m 


184 


IVAli,    TltADE,   AND  MISSIOXS. 


m      t 


Tlicy  saw  a  boat   vitli  a  white  Ha<?  row  to  the  .strand.     The 
otticor  boro  a  now  demand  for  .surrender.     C'liiMiiplain  n  ,ked  for 
a  fortnight  to  con.sider  it;  but  an   immediate  eompliance  was 
insisted  on.     Kirke  was   not  unrea.sonablo  in   his  terms.     Ho 
offered  honorabUi  ]trivih'-'es,  and  en<-!i<jed  to  transport  all  who 
ilesired  it  to  Hnropo.     There  was  no  alternative,  and  tlie  demand 
was  met.     Tho  next  day,  the  red  tlay  of  England  floated  from 
Cape  Diamond.     Tho  Enylish  admiral  had  sent  his  brothers  to 
arran<"(i  for  the  eapitulation,  while  he  remained  at  Tadoussac. 
Under  these  eommanders,  the  troops  which  had  come   in   tho 
shii).s   were  landed,  and  quartered   in   casemate    and    barraek. 
Provision.s  were  at  once  i)ut  ashore,  and  the  storehouses  were 
fille(l  with  unwonted  supi)lies.    Thirteen  of  the  French  colonists, 
looking  perhaps  on  tho  change  as  a  deliverance,  as  Chai-levoix 
intimates,  were  induced  to  live  under  tho  English  rule.     Of 
these  there  were  seven  who  were  of  importance  to  the  victors, 
because  of  their  woodcraft  and  experience  with  tho  Indians. 

Those  who  i)referred  to  leave  embarked  with  Champlain  on 
one  of  the  English  ships,  and  on  Jidy  24  started  for  Tadoussac. 
cimn.pi.iin  T^i's  vcsscl  ran  ahead  of  her  consorts,  and  while  thus 
cubarkH.  ursui)ported  she  met  a  French  ship  under  Emeric  do 
Caen.  This  vessel  had  slipped  by  Tadoussac  unnoticed.  The 
hostile  crafts  cleared  for  action,  and  it  seemed  for  a  while  that 
Do  Caen  would  avenge  tho  fall  of  Quebec  ;  but  T.ritish  pluck 
prevailed,  and  the  Frenchman  struck  his  colors.  The  prize  was 
taken  to  Tadoussac,  where  on  Angust  19  the  terms  of  the  sur- 
render  were  ratified  by  the  English  admiral. 

It  seemed  now  to  one  in  Quebec  as  if  the  English  domination 
of  Isorth  America  was  likely  to  be  assured,  and  not  to  bo  left,  as 
was  the  case,  to  the  uncertainties  of  a  hundred  and  thirty  years 
yet  to  come.     Lord  Baltimore  at  Avalon,  in  Newfoundland,  had 
indeed  seen  a  sorry  time  with  his  colony  in  the  face  of  the  French, 
to  say  nothing  of  English  enemies,  and  he  had  just  carried  his 
people  to  the  Chesapeake.     Here  he  founil  that  the  chartered 
rights  of  the  Virginia  company,  M'itli  all  the  extensions  to  a  suj)- 
posable  western  ocean,  had  been  surrendered  to  the  crown,  and 
nnder  a  royal  governor,  the  most  ancient  of  the  English  settle- 
ments  was  to  gather  new  vigor,  a  part  of  which  he  was  to  feel. 
In  the  region  which  lay  towards  the  French,  and  had  been  called 
North  Vii'ginia,  but   which,  since  Captain   John  Smith    had 


THE  ENGLISH  COLOX/ES. 


186 


(lescnbed  the  country,  was  more  conunonly  known  as  Now  Kng- 
uiul,  there  was  an  ominous  movement.     In  March,  1G2!»,  while 
(  ha.nplam   an.l   his   stricken   followers   were   dragging    their 
oinacmted  bodies  into  the  su.i  on   the  rock  at  (^uel.ec,  Charles 
the  i-.rst  was  confirming  the  Massachusetts  chart.M-,  as  granted 
i>y  the  comi)any  at  Plymouth  in  Devon,  which  since  1(J20  Jnd 
.•lauued  to  48°  north  latitude.     In  the  interpretation  which  the 
colonists  gave  to  the  new  charter,  it  carried  its  northern  limits 
above  the  source  of  the  Merrimac,  well  within  a  region  which 
the  1  rench  had  claimed.     The  charter  gave  also  to  the  grant  an 
indefinite  extension  to  the  western  sea,  whose  shores  both  French 
and  English  were  anxious  to  reach.    Smith  had  complained  that 
with  all  his  praises  of  the  New  Kngland  soil,  it  had  hardly  lured 
the  emigrant  like  the  more  fertile  south.     But  the  year  in  which 
Quebec  was  lost  to  the  French  was  the  same  in  which  Puritan- 
ism claimed  New  England.     The  party  which  E    licott  brought 
to  Salem  in  1629,  with  instruction  to  buy  the  land  of  the 
natives,  were  the  precursors  of  a  race  unequaled  as  colonists. 
Ihey  differed  from  the  French  in  the  north  in  many  respects, 
but  in  none  more  potently  than  in  bringing  to  these  American 
wilds  the  life  of  families.     The  long  struggle  they  sustained 
along  the  New  England  frontiers  with  the  horrors  of  savage  war 
showed  how  stubbornly  they  could  cling  to  their  ideal 

A  few  days  before  the  English  fleet  which  bore  Champlain 
was  descried  from  the  Hoe  at  Plymouth,  the  council  for  New 
If^ngland,  sitting  in  that  town,  made  a  grant  to  Gorges  and 
Mason,  which  assured  the  control  of  the  country  on  "  the  Iro- 
quois  lakes  "  to  their  associates  of  the  Laconia  company.  This 
with  all  its  mistaken  geography,  would  have  meant  to  the  English 
111  Quebec,  had  they  known  it,  a  close  contiguity  to  their  con- 
quered post.  But  all  visions  of  a  compacted  English  territory 
were  soon  dispelled. 


ii 


CHAPTER  VIT. 

QUEBEC  KESTORED.      EXPLORATIONS  OF  NICOLET.      DEATH 

OP  CHAMPLAIN. 

1630-1635. 

On  the  return  of  the  English  fleet  to  Plymouth,  November  20, 
f6°2a '"'       ,      V  '*  ^^^  tliscoverecl  that  before  Quebec  had  capitu- 
latecl,  a  treaty  of  peace  between  England  and  France 
had  been  signed  on  April  23.     On  November  29,  Champlain 
was  m  London,  endeavoring  with  the  aid  of  the  French  ambas- 
sador to  arrange  for  the  restitution  of  the  untimely  conquest  • 
but  there  were  complications  to  be  removed.     On  the  pi.-ced- 
mg  2d  of  February,  the  English  king,  in  anticipation  of  the 
c^hX/"'"    o°°^wMv''^  ^^''^^^'  ^^  granted,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
1    J  i.-      .^  William  Alexander,  a  charter  of  « the  county  and 
lordshjp  of  Canada  in  America."     This  document  STioke  of  the 
"  expected  revealing  and  discovery  of  a  way  or  passage  to  those 
seas  which  lie  upon  America  on  the  west,  commonly  called  the 
feouth  bea,  from  which  the  head  or  source  of  that  great  river  or 
gulf  of  Canada,  or  some  river  flowing  into  it,  is  deemed  to  be  not 
tar  distant."     The  charter  granted  jurisdiction  over  the  islands 
in  and  over  fifty  leagues  of  territory  on  each  side  of  this  river, 
"  up  to  the  source  thereof,  wheresoever  it  be,  or  to  the  lake 
whence  it  flows,  which  is  thought  to  be  towards  the  Gulf  of 
California,  called  by  some  the  Vermilion  Sea."     This  also  in- 
clufi-d  all  the  lands  adjacent  to  the  passage  from  tlie  source  of 
the  river  to  the  Gulf  of  California,  -  "  whether  they  be  found  a 
part  of  the  continent  or  main  land  or  an  island  (as  it  is  thou-ht 
they  are)  which  is  commonly  called  by  the  name  of  California 
-  which  are  not  really  and  actually  possessed  by  others,  our 
subjects,  or  the  subjects  of  any  other  Christian  prince  or  consti- 
tuted  orders  in  alliance  and  friendship  with  us." 

But  all  this  was  a  short-lived  or  rather  premature  colonial 


DIPLOMACY. 


137 


grandeur.  Not  many  weeks  later,  it  was  agreed,  in  ignorance 
of  what  was  happening  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  that  all  conquest 
made  by  either  English  or  French  after  April  24,  1629,  should 
be  restored  to  the  condition  existing  before  such  cap-  Canada  to  be 
ture.  It  was  because  of  this  agreement  that  Cham-  's^'o'e'i- 
plain  was  now  making  his  protestations  in  London. 

Alexander  and  the  Kirkes,  with  all  who  had  ventured  their 
money  on  the  success  of  the  Quebec  expedition,  were  not  in 
good  humor  when  they  saw  that  the  lordship  of  Canada,  and 
all  the  royal  protestations  which  had  encouraged  them,  were 
likely  to  vanish  in  thin  air.  These  disappointed  gentlemen  had 
influence  enough  to  protract  the  negotiations  for  the  restitution, 
and  when  Champlain  at  last  came  to  Paris,  by  the  end  of  De- 
cember, the  issue  was  not  reached,  nor  did  the  negotiations  move 
rapidly  during  the  following  year  (1630).  Alexander 
and  his  friends  ?ost  no  occasion  to  urge  that  the  ^'^" 
French  had  always  been  intruders  within  the  limits  of  New 
Scotland.  The  English  king,  never  willing  to  acknowledge  the 
French  rights  to  Canada,  was  making  up  his  mind  to  such  a 
qualified  restitution  as  would  not  prejudice  the  English  claim 
to  the  country. 

King  Charles  had  married,  in  1625,  a  sister  of  Louis  XIII., 
and  only  a  part  of  the  dower  agreed  upon  liad  as  yet 
been  paid  to  him.    It  was  a  good  time  now  to  demand  queen'^^^*  • 
the  rest.    On  June  12,  1631,  he  informed  his  ambas-  '"'"'^"' 
sador  in  Paris  that  if  the  French  court  did  not  pay  this  deficit 
there  would  be  no  restitution  of  Port  Royal  and  Quebec.    Here 
was  substantial  ground  for  diplomacy,  and  we  can  read  the  cor- 
respondence in  the  report  of  the  Canadian  archivist  for  1874. 
The  outcome  was  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye, 
on  March  29, 1632.     The  agreement  embodied  in  this  IfGenS: 
treaty  was  very  likely  hastened  by  the  fact  that  De  '"■^''^''" 
Ra;,illy,  a  leading   member  of   the   Hundred  Associates,  was 
known  to  be  fitting  out  a  fleet,  which  might  be  intended  to 
wrest  from  the  English  by  force  the  object  of  the  lingering 
negotiations. 

The  treaty  which  Charles  thus  concluded  was  easily  advanced 
by  Jiis  pressing  need  of  money,  and  the  promise  of  the  remain- 
ing dower.  The  king's  letter,  preserved  in  the  Harleyan  col- 
lection, and  only  printed  by  Mr.  Brymner  of  the  Canadian 


'<n 


i,  i 


fl 


138 


QUEBEC  RESTORED. 


archives,  in  1889,  has  made  tins  manifest.  The  terms  for 
re^.tut.on  of  the  French  posts  in  Canada  bore  hLd  on  L t 
faithful  svxbjects  who  had  used  his  letters  of  marque  to  ad  to 
his  dominions,  and  who  saw  their  conquests  given  up  for  h  s 
ro^d  necessities.     Accordingly,  the  satisfied  monarch  U  quite 

sop,  whde  he  ordered  the  evacuation  by  Alexander's  son  of  the 
hiri  r      t  """'^  if  ^"'^  Koyal,  where  Charles  La  Tou 
teiests      Ch.rr  "'^f  ^f  '^  ^  representative  of  French  in! 

much  doubt  on  the  numerous  charters  which  under  his  roval 
sign.Uure  had  covered  all  the  region  in  dispute,  and  w  I  char 
acteristic  duplicity  professed  to  his  subjects  that  he  intended  to 

ZIZ  '%^'T'T  ^'i^^^^  '^^^^'^"'^  ^^*^-  creationof  mo 
ou  h  f ;  1 1   r '''  *  '^o  *^"-''  '^''  ''^^''  «^  *^»«  Council  of  Plym. 

an  Uir.aW     "  ''f '  T^:  ""'  ^"^^^  ^^  ^^°  "^^^  ^-titifde. 
and  the  patents  given  to  DelVIonts  in  1603,  still  remained  to 

settled  till  Wolfe  perished  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham. 

Charles  was  nevertheless  quite  ready  to  fulfill  the  new  obli- 

lovved.  As  the  De  Caens  had  suffered  from  the  inability  of  the 
c^lt^i  P '"""''  go^'ernment  to  protect  them  while  at  Quebec, 
toQuebcc,     -Lmeric  de  Caen  was  sent  out  to  receive  the  surrender. 

^*  *^^e«ame  time  he  was  allowed  a  year's  privileo-e  of 
trade  to  recoup  himself  in  his  barter  for  furs.     In  July  1032 
the  French  reached  Quebec.     They  found  the  Englil   occu! 

t'  bda^"'  nf-'"''  r"'  ^'  '''''''  1—--  -ot  without 
ti  bula  ions.     During  the  first  winter,  forty  of  the  ninety  men 

who  held  the  place  had  died.     Those  who  ruled  thenrhad  no 

vigor  to  prevent  illegal  trading  on  the  river,  and  the  Bas' i^s 

summer,  tliey  had  received  some  recruits,  and  there  were  about 
July.  seventy  English  in  the  town  when  De  Caen,  on  July  13 

rfe.-    received  its  surrender.     The  French  accounts  say  that 

.  ,  *  f  ^"f  I'sh  commander  sailed  do  n  the  river  with  his 
^ps  heavily  laden  with  furs.  Some  of  tne  hatchets  which 
Kike  had  used  in  the  barter  for  skins  were  recognized  two  years 
later  by  Henry  Fleet  among  the  tribes  of  the  Potomac.      ^ 

liichelieu  had  in  mind  to  control,  as  his  wont  was  in  most 


THE  JESUITS. 


139 


things,  the  religious  missions  in  Canada.     He  tried  first  to  in- 
duce  the  Capuchins  to  take  charge  of  the»n,  but  for 
some  reason  that  order  found  its  way  to  Acadia  instead.  ^'"'""' 
The  Recollects  had  appealed  to  Kome  to  have  a  bishop  in 
Canada,  which  was  not  a  way  to  ingratiate  their  order  with 
Richelieu,  and  in  a  spirit  both  of  defiance  and  defense  that  min- 
ister sent  the  Jesuits  instead.     This  exclusion  of  the  Recollects 
has  sometimes  been  said  to  have   been   the  result  of  Jesuit 
intrigue.     At  all  events,  on  April  18, 1G32,  two  Jesuit  ,032  Jesuits 
fathers,  Le  Jeune  and  De  Noiie,  sailed  from  Havre  for  a™ve.""" 
Quebec.  _  Some  weeks  later,  at  Tadoussac,  Le  Jeune  saw  for 
the  first  time,  as  they  came  on  board  the  ship,  some  of  the  uncouth 
and  filthy  creatures  whose   interests,  as  he  understood  them 
were  to  fill  so  large  a  part  of  his  devoted  life.     A  heedless  cru- 
elty was  at  once  mated  in  his  mind  with  their  squalor,  for  he 
labored  in  vain  to  induce  them  a  few  days  later  to  spare  some 
Iroquois  prisoners  from  the  horrors  of  the  stake.     The  Jesuits 
perhaps  realized  how  fit   an   introductory  experience  all   this 
was  to  the  work  tliey  had  come  to  do.     Shortly  afterwards,  we 
find  the  two  priests  restoring  the  dilapidated  mission  house  on 
the  bank  of  the  St.  Charles.     The  policy  of  the  Jesuits  was 
reasonable,  and  it  was  not  savage.     "The  power  of  the  priest 
established,"  says  Pai-kraan,  "that  of  the  temporal  ruler  was 
secure.  .  .  .  Spanish  civilization  crushed  the  Indian,  English 
civilization   scorned   and   neglected   him;    French   civilization 
embraced  and  cherished  him." 

On  August  28, 1G32,  Le  Jeune  wrote  to  the  provincial  of  his 
order  in  France  detailing  his  experiences.     It  was  the    r    ■.  r, , 

„„   T      ■        <;    ,  1     ,  .  „  ,  Jesttii  Rela- 

earliest  ot  that  series  of  wonderful  letters,  known  ""'"• 
as  the  Jesuit  Relations.  These  reports  for  forty  years  and 
more  supplied  the  most  that  was  known  of  life  in  the  Canadian 
wilds  to  the  great  mass  of  French  readers.  Charlevoix  speaks 
of  the  avidity  with  which  they  were  read,  and  Parkman  praises 
the  good  faith  of  their  authors,  — a  Protestant  recognition  of 
good  intent  that  their  contemporary  rivals  in  other  ecclesias- 
tical orders  did  not  accord.  There  are  few  allusions  to  these 
narratives  in  the  writers  of  their  day,  though  Creuxius  used 
them  in  writing  his  account  of  Canada  in  1664,  as  Chaulmer 
had  done  in  his  JVotivecm  Ifonde  in  1659. 

Although  the  final  edition  of  Champlain's  narratives  bears  the 


i 


i^r 


140 


QUEBEC  RESTORED. 


',( 


,1  t 


H 


CHAMPLAIN'S  LAST  BOOK. 


141 


fe^ 


M 


4 


(late  of  1632,  there  are  some  reasons  to  think  that  it  was  really 
issued  the  following  year  (1G33),  after  Champlain  had 
returned  to  Quebec.  This  book,  in  which  several  fi^aTeSlS,;! 
Paris  publishers  seem  to  have  been  conjointly  inter-  ^^'''^^' 
ested,  contains  in  the  first  part  a  condensation  of  his  pre- 
vious publications,  and  in  the  second  a  continuation  of  his 
experiences  from  1620  to  1631.  The  last  year's  doings  were 
apparently  not  written  by  Champlain  himself.  Indeed,  it  is 
manifest  to  more  careful  critics  that  the  volume,  including  its 
map,  failed  to  receive  Champlain's  personal  supervision,  Imd 
was  prepared  for  the  press  by  another  hand.     Some  have  been 


HONDIUS,  1G35. 

led  to  believe  that  a  Jesuit  father  —  possibly  one  who  had  been 
in  Canada  —  edited  the  book  in  the  interests  of  his  own  order, 
and  issued  it,  notwithstanding  the  date  on  the  title,  after  Cham- 
plain had  departed  from  France  in  March,  1633.  These  critics 
rely  upon^  a  difference  in  style  in  what  they  claim  are  Jesuit 
interpohitions,  and  they  point  to  inaccuracies  and  obscurities 
■which  could  not  have  come  from  one  so  well  informed  as  Cham- 
plain. The  obscuration  of  the  KecoUects,  which  the  book 
shows,  is  something,  too,  in  such  judgments,  that  could  not 
have  originated  witli  Champlain.  This  edition,  says  the  mod- 
ern historian,  Kingsfovd,  "  was  an  engine  to  influence  opinion, 
so  that  Canada,  restored  to  France,  should  be  given  over  en- 


ill 

^1 


Wi 


142 


QUEBEC  RESTORED. 


Cnrtede  la  "™"^/-yW;^^;„;;^7Z~^ 


mx 


CHAMPLAIN'S  GREAT  MAP. 


148 


:^^ 


\^i 


BY  CHAMPLAIN,  1C32. 


i"°.  f  yo..- f>'i^  -'::'_!,lr_V±X 


144 


QUEBEC  RESTORED. 


jllM 


tirely  to  the  Jesuits."     In  most  copies  a  certain  passage  which 
is^thought  to  reflect  on  Itichelieu,  the  Jesuits'  patronf  is  can- 
In  the  large  map  there  is  perhaps  some,  but  less  reason  to 
si>.pect  an  ahen  hand.     We  get  fron,  it  the  first  cartographical 
intimation  of  a  great   lake  beyond    the   Mer  Douce      L  'u 
explanatory  legend  Champlain  says  that  the  Saut  du  Gaston 
hrriTr"  >"^  a  brother  of  Louis  XIII.,  was  near  two  leagues' 
m  width, -,t  represents  the  present  Sault  Ste.  Marie, -with 

mLT.7  T-?'''^^''"'"  ^"''^  ^"^'^^  ^^^^  ^^:^°"d5  and  in  the 
map  we  find  its  western  extension  cut  off  by  the  margin  of  the 

fSf'^  sheet, -a  convenient  limitation  to  the  vague  know- 

that  we  get  m  the  stream  which  enters  Lake  Ontario  at  the 
west  end  the  first  fairly  accurate  location  of  the  Niagara  cata- 
Niagara.  ^^f^\-  <-hamplain  never  comprehended  the  ma<^nitude 
of  these  falls  any  more  than  Cartier  did  when  he 
se  ms  to  have  heard  of  them,  a  hundred  years  before.  Sanson, 
when  he  published  his  map  in  1656,  represented  the  conception 
of  Champlain  ;  but  we  get  no  particular  description  of  the  cat- 

see  in  Galmee  s  journal,  when  this  priest  accompanied  La  Salle 
along  Lake  Ontario  in  1669.  This  stream,  which  shows  the 
falls  near  its  outlet  m  Ontario,  comes  from  Lake  Huron  throuo-h 
a  region  which  with  better  knowledge  is  made  the  basin  of  Lake 
T\  .11  ^"l'^""«ly'  *^ere  seems  to  be  the  beginning  of  the 
S  rmts  of  Mackinaw  with  its  island,  nearly  in  the  proper  place, 
whde  the  inlet  which  stands  for  Green  Bay,  amid  the  country 
ot  the  Fuants,  is  thrown  over  to  the  northern  side  of  Huron. 

Champlain,  on  rsturning  to  his  Canadian  government,  had 
bonie  with  Inm  a  new  commission,  representing  all  the  prestige 
with  which  Richeheu  and  his  Hundred  Associates  could  clothe 
ic33.cham.  *'^^'^'  ^'epresentativc.  He  sailed  from  Dieime  on 
P>ai.H,,  March  23,  1633,  and  on  the  23d  of  May  the  morn- 
mg  gun  at  the  fort  on  Cape  Diamond  boomed  a  wel- 
come  to  the  restored  governor.  The  salvos  stirred  many  an 
echo  Lul  none  in  nature  was  more  responsive  than  that  in  the 
Heart  ot  Le  Jeune,  when  his  attention  was  first  arrested  by  the 
sound  aa  he  was  stirring  with  the  early  duties  of  the  day  at 


JAMES'S  MAP. 


145 


the  Notre  Dame  des  Anges.  He  knew  that  it  meant  a  fripnrl 
had  come  to  take  command  in  place  of  a  IIugulT  pI^';  ^ 
dul  not  know  that  in  the  train  of  the  retuLd  governor  elm: 


men  of  his  own  order;  hut  it  was  not  long  before  he  found  the 
Jesuit  missions  strengthened  in  tlie  eoming^of  Brdbeuf, 
Masse,  Daniel,  and  Davost.  '^««"'ts- 

Th^Fnllir  ^f^.'''^"^^'  '^'^'  Chainplain  had  most  to  fear. 
Ihe  English,  thinking  to  improve  their  trade  in  the  gulf  mani- 
fested a  purpose  to  advannP  to  Tadou.sic  and  h-   ■ 

-  I-  _ai.<)ij!?i5ac  ana  begin  a  compe- 


' '   f 


[!■ 


^■^^  QUEBEC  RESTORED. 

tition  with  the  French  for  the  native  trade.     In  May,  1633 
ic33.May.     representatives  of  the  Canadian  tribes  assembled  at 
i;i;.i-cou„-  Quebec  to  sit  with  CJ.ampIain  round  the  eouncil  fire. 
Ihe   l^reneh  governc       rged  his  allies  to  repel  the 
advances  of  the  English.     An  IncUan  fron.  Three  Rivers  Capl! 
anal    nnpressea  the    listening   Jesuits  with  oratorical  powers 
that  they  had  not  associated  with  the  native  tongue.     Cham- 
plam  m  reply  was  allured  into  picturing  that  good  time  when 
theJ^renehand  the  Indians  should  be  one,  giving  and  takino- 
m  marriage      If  such  a  consunmiation  were  possible,  Champlain 
was  aware   hat  much  must  be  done  to  hedge  the  iittle  coW 
about,  so  that  such  feelings  of  mutual  trust  m^^lit  grow     A 
post  must   be   established  somewhere  below  oa    :he  rive'r  to 
prevent  the  English  coming  up  and  the  Indians  going  down 
A  for    must  be  built  at  Three  Rivers,  strong  enough  to  check 
^.e  raids  of  the  Iroquois;  and  a  light  troop^f  th?ee  hun  red 
French  soldiers  needed  to  be   kept  ready  f!,r  quick  movement 
along  the   river.       Champlain's   letter   of   August  15,    1G33 
S;;S;'.      "'f  "f  ^i:^  "^^t'"'''  "P°"  Richelieu,  produced  little 
v;n..lf.    Ti   1*  ,  «elf-reHant  governor  soon  became  con- 

vmced  that  he  had  not  much  more  to  hope  from  the  new  com- 
pany than  he  had  experienced  from  the  old.  A  year  lalerTe 
renewed  the  representations,  but  with  no  better  resuU 

It  IS  not  probable  that  Champlain  was  aware  of  the  move- 

oTl  :         n  t  ""f "'  "^^^  "^^'^^"^^  ^^-^  *^-  Atlantic^de, 

Fran  e^T  Tv  "T  T'  "^^^  ^"^^^^^^^  "^  «—  f-m 
lib  1  %1  ^^'^^''^T'  ^^'^  "»Pr^««ed  on  the  minds  of  the  Eng- 
lish, as  they  had  done  upon  the  French,  the  same  faith  in  a 
greac  ,n  enor  basin  of  water.  Captain  Thomas  Youn  "in 
1633,  saihng  np  the  Delaware,  where  the  Swedes  were  conduct 

Xh  trfr    '"■^'?'  ''''''-'  ^^  *^'^*  ''Mediterranean  st 

ntmti'?    r      ft  '^^''r  '''''  i—y  beyond  th 
mountain.       Young  had  resolved  to  find  it.     He  expected  firsf 
to  reach  a  smaller  lake,  connected  with  the  larger  X  a    t^^f 
The  rapids  of  the  Delaware  cheeked  his  progress.  "^  He  not 
desisted  for  the  season,  with  the  expectation  of  buildin^a  ve' 

that  se  t  ng  out  from  such  new  point,  Jie  wodd  still  have  a  voy- 
age of  a  hunured  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  leagues  to  overcome 
He  apparently  harbored  the  r.^.  notion  as  prevailed  in  Can! 


EXf.LISH  AND  FRENCH. 


147 


ada,  that  this  intermediate  lake  would,  when  readied,  disclose 
passages  both  to  the  North  and  to  the  South  Sea,  and  g^p  ^^^,,  ,^ 
in  this  event  the  conflict  of  rivalry  could  not  be  far  '*'''"'■  '"*»'"■ 
off.  Two  years  later,  an  English  edition  of  the  great  Mercator- 
Ilondhis  Atlas  shows  this  great  interior  water  lying  west  of 
Ontario. 


In   June,  1634,  a  fleet  arrived  at  Quebec,  and  in  it  came 
Father   Buteux  and   two   other   priestu.     The  whole  , 
population  of  Canada  at  this  time  was  scarcely  more  ''^^f'^" 
than  sixty  souls,  and  of  this  number  only  two  households  could 
be  said  to  have  fastened  themselves  on  the  soil.     In  fact,  all 
results  of  consequence  in  the  colony's  life  could  be  traced  to 
the  summer  traffic  in  furs,  and  development  stopi)ed  with  that. 
The    neighboring    English   and    Dutch  were   pursuing   the 
same  trade.     Half  the  people  in  Albany  lived  by  it.    The'skins 
came  from  New  England  as  well  as  from  the  Iroquois  and  be- 
yond, and  large  shipments  were  made  to  Holland  from  Man- 
hattan.    But  there  was  this  difference,  that  these  people  were 
generally  becoming  a  product  of  the  soil,  and  were  rapidly  in- 
creasing, particularly  along  the  New  England  coast.      There 
w  re  at  this  time  near   four  thousand    English  settled  about 
Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  great  immigration  was  begun  which 
before  1640  was  to  bring  something  like  twelve  thousand  colo- 
nists to  the  country.     The  people  founded  a  college, 
and  began  to  build  ships,  and  were  trading  in  the  re-  EngiT^.  cot 
moter  inlets,  and  bringing  wheat  from  Virginia.     The  •""'''"°°- 
little   colony  of  New  Plymouth   were   supporting  a  trading- 
post  on  the  Kennebec,  close  up  to  the  divide  which  separated 
them  from  the  French,  and  were  maintaining  it  against  French 
privateers,  not  always  successfully.     All  this  meant  with  such 
a  jieople  permanence  and  colonial  growth.     Though  there  was 
some  v/ildness  in  contemporary  opinions  among  the  English  as 
to  the  westward  geography  which  they  were  slowly  develoi)ing, 
there  was  not  in  officid  circles  the  same  confident  expectation 
of  reaching  by  western  exploration  the  great  China  Sea,  which 
prevailed  in  Paris  and  Quebec.     When,  in  1635,  the  Plymouth 
Company  of  Devon  surrendered  its  charter,  which  had  carried 
their  claim  to  48°  north  latitude,  they  distinctly  averred  that 
the  "  sea  to  sea  "  limits  of  its  terms  were  the  equivalent  of  about 


i. 


E 


148 


QUEBEC  RESTORED. 


three  thousand  miles.  The  colonies  of  Maryland  and  Vir-^inia 
backed  by  the  Alleghanies,  were  more  prone  to  imaghio  a 
western  sea  not  very  remote  beyond  the  darkened  ridges  of 
thosvT  mountains. 

Life  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  with  almost  a  generation  of  colo- 
ni/ation  behind  it,  was  quite  another  thing,  and  Champlain  was 
not  a  man  to  be  blinded  to  its  essential  failure.     With  some- 
thing of  chagrin,  but  with  a  determination  to  make  one  more 
Rfver/'"'"  ^"^"'^^  "^  *''*^  ^v^c+ern  march,  he  sent  off  in  Jidy,  1G34, 
rri"     -D-  ''^"  ^'''P^'^^*^^"  prepared  to  start  a  new  settlement  at 
Ihree  Kivers,  which  in  all  these  years  since  Pontgrave  had  dis- 
cerned  its  advantages  had  been  let>  untried,     lie  directed  a 
fori  to  be  built  on  the  very  site  where  the  Iroquois  had  in  the 
past  destroyed  a  stronghold  of  the  Algonquins,  and  one  step 
more  was  taken  on  the  way  to  Cathay.     Thi.  step  meant  that 
the  church    should  once  more  send  still  farther  west  its  pre- 
cursors of  civilization,  and,  after  much  persuasion,  the  Ilurons 
who  had  come  down  on  one  of  their  trafficking  visits,  were  at 
Jesuits  go      length  i)revailed  upon  to  take  back  with  them  some  of 
the  Jesuit  priests.     The  savages  much  preferred  men 
with,  packs  and  arquebuses  to  those  in  cassock  and  hood.     The 
French,  in  bidding  Brebeuf  and  his  companions  good-by,  grati- 
iied  the  savage  humor  by  a  discharge  of  cannon.     Brebeuf  was 
not  without  some  military  fervor  himself,  and  we  soon  hear  of 
him,  teaching  the  Hurons  to  build  their  palisades  in  a  square 
with  flanking  towers  at  the  angles,  as  better  fitted  than  their 
round  inclosures  to  give  the  French  arquebus  its  best  effect  in 
helping  repel  an  attack. 

Late  in  July,  Champlain  went  to  Three  Rivers  to  observe  the 
progress  of  the  fort.     It  was  lis  last  journey  so  far  west,  and 
August.        °^  August  3  he  was  back  in  Quebec.     Shortly  after- 
wards lie  gave  a  God-speed  to  Le  Jeune,  who  went  to 
assume  charge  of  the  new  post,  taking  Fathe-  Buteux   with 
September.     '"'"'     ^licy  arrived  at  Three  Rivers  on   Sep:ember 
8,  and  three  months  later  found  themselves  in  the 
midst  of  an  epidemic,  which  put  their  courage  to  a  severe  test. 
While  it  was  raging,  Le  Joune  began  with  his  own  hand  a  reg- 
ister of  baptisms  and  deaths,  which  now  remains  the  sol(>  doc- 
Eariy  rec      "mcnt  transmitted  to  us  of  these  old  Canadian  days. 
The  early  records  of  Quebec  were  destroyed  a  few 


ords. 


Ifia-;.  Cham- 
plain'H  last 
counuil. 


CIIAMPLAIN  AND  NICOLET.  149 

years  later,  when  the  Chapel  of  Notre  Dume  de  Recouvranco, 
which  tlianiplain  liad  erected  to  coiniuoniorato  the  recovery  of 
the  town  from  the  English,  was  burned  in  1040. 

The  establishment  of  the  firbt  sr;i.;„eury  at  Beauport  marked 
a  new  stage  in  the  progre;^:<  of  the  French  scheme  of  «  , 
colonization.  A  seigneurial  tenure  to  tract  after  «'"»i^"''*' 
tract  ^yas  given  m  the  following  years  to  any  enterprising  per- 
son who  would  undertake  to  plant  settlers  on  the  land  and 
acocpt  in  return  a  certain  proportion  of  the  grist,  furs,  anil  fish 
wJuch  the  occupant  could  secure  by  labor. 

It  was  on  July  22  that  Champlain  held  his  last  council  at 

ytiobec,  inviting  the  Ilurons,  who  had  come  down  the 

river  with  their  customary  constancy,  to  participate. 

Ihe  burden  of  the  governor's  address  to  them  was 

that  if  they  would  only  worship  thr    Frenchman's  God,  they 

would  flourish  under  his  benignant  protection  and  have  no  dif- 

hculty  in  overcoming  the  Iroquois.     He  told  them  that  they 

only  needed  to  embrace  the  white  man's  faith,  if  they  would 

have  the  white  man  take  their  daughters  in  marriage.     There 

was  room  he  said,  in  Quebec  for  a  goodly  number  of  their 

young  chddren,  if  they  would  only  commit  them  to  the  custody 

of  the  kmd  French,  who  would  give  them  shelter  and  food  in 

their  holy  houses,  and  be  like  grandparents  to  their  tender 

wards. 

It  was  probably  late  in  July,  1G35,  that  Champlain  learned 
of  the  return  of  ^icolet  from  the  mission  on  which  he 
had  dispatched  him  the  previous  year.  It  will  be  ^'"°"'' 
remembered  that  in  1618,  not  long  after  fhis  young  Norman 
had  arriv-ed  m  the  valley,  Champlain  had  sent  him  among  the 
Indians  to  prepare  him  for  future  service  as  an  interpreter. 
N  eolet  may  have  made  an  occasional  visit  to  the  settlements  in 
all  these  intervening  years,  but  there  is  no  definite  evidence  of 

1  f  T;/'^'^^.*^^^^  ^"^  ""^^  "«*  ^  f'-^'^iliar  face  when  he 
appeared  at  Three  Rivers  in  the  summer  of  1G33,  in  the  train 
ot  the  Algonquin  traders,  come  thither  for  their  summer  traffic. 
By  the  next  June  (1634)  he  was  ready  for  new  labors.  These 
many  years  among  the  Algonquins  and  Nipissings,  suffering- 
their  perils,  had  quickened  his  senses  for  the  hardiest  tasks  of 
the  forest. 


'i.  > 


,1  1 


%y\ ' 


MU 


f  I 


150 


EXPLORATIONS  OF  NICOLET. 


The  Canadian  writer,  Benjamin  Suite,  has  shown  it  to  be 
reasonably  certain  that  Champlain  had  started  Nicolet  at  th-'s 
time  m  the  train  of  Brebeuf  and  Daniel,  who  left  Three  Rivers 
for  their  missions  on  July  1,  1G34.     Nicolet's  intention  was  to 
go  far  enough  west  to  learn  something  more  definite  than  had 
yet  been  acquired  from  the  Indian  stories,  as  Sagard  tells  us  of 
those  distant  western  people,  who  had  neither  hair  nor  beards 
and  who  journeyed  in  great  canoes.     It  was  the  common  tale 
that  these  stories  had  passed  eastward  from  a  distant  nation 
who   lived   by  water   that  was   not   fresh,  and  who  had    mi- 
grated  to  their  pi-esent  homes  from  the  shores  of  a  great  sea. 
Sucli  were  the  geographical  and  ethnological  riddles  that  Nicolet 
was  now  3xpected   to   unravel.      Parkman   suggests   that  the 
brocaded  gown  which  he   is  known  to  have  taken  with  him  was 
m  reference  to  this  hairless  people  who,  in  the  prevalent  opin- 
ion,  must  have  been  thought  a  race  of  the  Asiatic  Orient. 

Nicolet's  course  lay  up  the  Ottawa,  and  by  Lake  Nipissing 
to  Georgian  Bay,  and  thence  to  the  Huron  villages.     Here  he 
renewed  old  friendships,  and  secured  the  services  of  seven  of 
tlie  tribe  for  guides.     Launching  their  canoes  at  the  head  of 
Georgian   Bay,  the  party  skirted  the    eastern   and    northern 
shores  of  Lake  Huron,  and  found  at  last  their  progress  checked 
SauH  ste.      at  Sault  Stc.  Marie.     Nicolet  was  the  first  European 
who  had  reached  this  point,  and,  encamping  on  the 
southern  bank  of  the  passage  and  in  the  present  State  of  Michi- 
gan, he  opened  the  first  communication  which  white  men  had 
with  the  ancestors  of  the  modern  Ojibways.     There  is  no  clear 
evidence  that  he  pushed  by  land  beyond  the  rapids,  so  as  to  get 
a  satisfactory  view  of  the  great  lake  beyond.     Its  existence,  con- 
jectured  by  Champlain,  was  yet  to  be  provec^  by  others. 

From  the  Sault,  Nicolet  and  his  companions  retraced  their 
way,  and,  following  the  sliore  of  what  is  now  called  the  northern 
Mackfn^w  P^"^"!"^^  ^^  Michigan,  they  came  to  the  Straits  of 
Mackinaw,  —  that  dominant  position  in  the  geography 
of  North  America,  reached  in  just  a  century  from  the  time 
when  Cartier  tried  the  great  nortliprn  portal  of  the  interior  at 
the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle.  Nicolet  could  hardly  have  suspected 
the  commanding  stand  at  which  he  had  at  last  arrived.  With 
all  his  surmises,  he  even  did  not  know  the  great  channel  which 
led  to  ii  fr.m  the  landfaU  of  Cartier,  for  the  existence  of  Lake 


STRAITS   OF  MACKINAW. 


151 


Erie  was  but  faintly  conceived ;  and  the  route  by  the  Ottawa 
with  all  its  obstruction,  was  the  only  passage  which  he  knew' 
To  tiie  south  of  him  lay  the  great  lake  whose  position  Chaniplain 
had  so  recently  misconceived  in  placing  it  to  the  north ;  and'  at 
the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  extremity  of  Green  IBav  -L 
shortly  to  be  tested  by  Nicolet  himself —  lay  the  invitin-  por- 
tages  which  were  in  due  time  to  conduct  the  French  into  that 
great  valley  which  the  English  had  not  dared  to  enter  over  f  he 
Appalachians,  nor  the  Spaniards  to  invade  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.     There  was  no  dream  yet  of  the  great  affluents  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  by  the  Missouri  were  to  conduct  the  explorer 
to  the  Columbia  and  the  Pacific,  and  by  the  Arkansas  were  to 
open  a  way  along  the  Colorado  to  the  Gulf  of  California.     All 
this  was  shadowy  in  men's  minds,  and  the  speculative  geographer 
of  the  time  had  not  yet  made  it  clear  whether  the  canoe  which 
was  carried  over  the  southern  portages  would  float  to  the  Atlan- 
tic, the  Mexican  Gulf,  or  the  South  Sea. 

Nor  could  our  adventurous  explorer  have  divined  what  lay  in 
the  farther  west,  —that  channel  of  the  Sault,  where  the  rapids 
had  baulked  him,  leading  to  the  long  stretch  of  Lake  Superior, 
which  the  Jesuits,  who  were  now  at  Three  Rivers,  were  yet  to 
unfold;  the  devious  passage  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and 
Lake  Winnipeg,  and  the  Indian  trail  which  would  have  led  him 
equally  to  Hudson's  Bay  or  along  the  Mackenzie  River  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean;  and  the  turn  off  at  Lake  Athabasca,  which 
would  have  conducted  him  to  the  northern  tributaries  of  the 
Columbia. 

These  were  the  possibilities  to  be  made  clear  in  coming  years, 
—  the  route  to  China  was  to  dissolve  to  this. 

From  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw  Nicolet  passed  on  to  Green 
Bay,  and  proceeded  to  its  southern  extremity.    Here  he  encoun- 
tered the  tribe  whom  we  know  as  the  Winnebagoes.  ^,„„^ 
His  damask  robe  and  his  pistols,  belching  fire  as  he  *"'«""«■ 
stalked  to  meet  the  savages,  made  them  look  upon  him  as  a 
stranoj.  spirit.     The  explorer  soon  found  that  his  familiarity 
with  the  Algonquin  and  Huron  tongues  availed  him  little,  for 
thoA\innebagoes  were  the  first  of  the  Dacotah  stock  that  the 
w  lite  man  had  seen.       The  messages  of  good-will  and  peace 
which  Nicolet  brought  to  them  were  not  rejected;  and  mutual 
protessions  were  enforced  by  speech  and  feast. 


152 


4  i 
ill  ^ 


ii  H  K 


.J 


,(; 


'i    1 


•I 
I  •  i 


Si 


EXPLORATIONS  OF  NICOLBT. 


Leavinjr  his  new-found  friends  behind  him,  Nicolet  pushed  up 
the  Fox  Kiver,  threaded  its  tortuous  ways,  passed  its  frequent 
MaacoutiHB.    ^*'!'^^'  ^'^^^  reached  the  villages  of  the  Mascoutins,  —  a 
tribe  whose  name  had  been  familiar,  by  report,  twenty 
years  before,  for  they  had  a  fame  for  daring  courage  which  had 
extended  far  to  the   east.     He  was  now  among  a  folk  of  the 
Algonquin  stock,  and  was  better  able  to  understand  the  stories 
which  they  told  him  of  ether  water  away  towards  the  south, 
three  days  off.     It  was  to  be  reached  by  ascending  the  Fox  still 
higher,  and  then  by  crossing  a  short  portage,  whence  he  could 
••Great        dcsceiid  to  the  "great  water."     This  designation,  in 
the  misconception  of  its  import,  long  nurtured  a  be- 
lief in  some  expansive  sea.     The  story  which  Nicolet  heard  in 
reality  prefigured  the  channel  of  the  Wisconsin,  flowing  into 
the  great  central  stream  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  destined  to 
remain  a  mystery  for  forty  years  yet  to  come. 

For  some  reason  Nicolet  did  not  attempt  to  make  this  mo- 
mentous passage  of  the  low  lands,  which  here  constitute  the  ridge 
between  the  great  valleys  of  North  America,  and  it  was  left  for 
Joliet  and  Marquette  to  establish  the  truth. 

We  follow  Nicolet  in  these  wanderings  mainly  from  his  story, 
as  repeated  by  Vimont  in  the  Jesuit  Relation,  published  six 
yoars  later.  That  we  find  no  published  record  till  1640  has 
led  writers  on  the  subject  to  assume  that  this  exploit  of  Nicolet 
must  have  taken  place  in  1039  instead  of  1634.  It 
was  Suite  who  made  the  earlier  date  a  certainty. 
He  published  his  conclusions  in  1876  in  a  volume  of 
miscellanies,  and  reinforced  his  argument  in  the  Collections  of 
the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  in  1879.  Later  students  have 
bardly  questioned  his  conclusions,  but  some  popiUar  writers  have 
been  ignorant  of  them. 

We  have  not  represented  that  Nicolet  passed  into  the  Wis- 
consin  River.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  language  as  given  by 
Vimoiit  has  sometimes  been  interpreted  to  mean  that  Nicolet 
actually  did  float  his  canoe  on  that  tributary  of  the  Mississippi. 
Instead  of  this,  however,  it  seems  far  more  certain  that  Nicolet 
nihioisand  pushed  directly  south  and  reached  the  tribe  of  the 
Illinois,  where  he  saw  something  of  the  Sioux,  who 
were  in  that  neighborhood  on  an  expedition  from  the  country 
farther  west. 


Date  of 

Nicolet'a 
expedition, 


DEATH  OF  CHAMPLAIN. 


153 


On  his  return  down  Green  Bay,  Nicolet  is  known  to  have 
exchanged  friendly  courtesies  with  the  Pottawattamies,  Pouawatta 
scattered  along  the  western  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  ™'e«"^*  " 
Ir  was  probably  in  the  early  summer  of  1635  that,  having  parted 
with  his  faithful  Hurons  in  their  villages,  Nicolet  joined  the 
customary  flotilla  descending  the  Ottawa  for  the  summer  trade, 
and  reached  Three  liivers  some  time  in  July. 

Unfortunately,  we  are  without  any  knowledge  of  the  effect 
which  N^olet's  story  may  have  had  on  Champlain,  and  we  are 
left  without  any  conception  of  the  reason  why  such  portentous 
events  should  have  failed  of  any  recognition  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  till  Vimont  recounted  the  story.  It  was  left  for 
Sagard  to  condense  the  narrative  in  his  subsequent  history.  It 
may  have  been  in  recognition  of  his  services  that  Nicolet  received 
one  of  Champlain's  last  appointments,  in  being  made  commis- 
sary and  interpreter  at  Three  Kivers.  We  soon  find  in  the  con- 
temporary records  evidence  of  Nicolet's  unmistakable  activity 
in  that  region. 

The  last  letter  preserved  to  us  which  Champlain  wrote  makes 
no  mention  of  the  great  exploit  which  we  have  just 
been  recording.  This  missive  is  dated  August  15,  pu^I'S"" 
1G35,  and  in  it  he  still  tries  to  impress  upon  Richelieu  ''""" 
the  necessity  of  further  succoring  the  colony.  He  speaks  of 
the  English  as  haunting  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  and  professing 
to  do  so  with  their  king's  permission.  The  Dutch  and  th? 
Iroquois  to  the  south  still  troubled  him  ;  but  thoughts  of  them 
did  not  harass  him  lone. 

About  the  middle  of  October,  Champlain  fell  under  a  stroke 
of  paralysis.     For  two  months  and  a  half  he  suffered, 
and  at  last  on  Christmas  Day,  1G35,  the  end  came.      '  if  cw 

The  intrepid  governor  lay  dead  in  his  own  Quebec,  p""'^''"" 
the  incipientcityof  blasted  hopes.  Trade  had  supported  it,  and 
had  stunted  it.  A  summer  of  activity  and  a  winter  of  inaction 
was  its  story,  year  in  and  year  out.  In  the  long  and  hot  July 
days  the  people  had  found  enough  to  do,  and  there  was  enough 
for  their  amusement  in  the  varying  procession  of  Huron  canol's 
which  came  down  the  St.  Lawrence  and  emptied  the  living  and 
furry  burdens  on  the  strand  beneath  the  cliffs  for  the  annual 
traffic.     The  merchants  sold  implements  and  trinkets  to  the  sav- 


154 


DEATH  OF  CHAMPLAIN. 


1.    i| 


III 


:iges,  loaded  their  barks  with  peltry,  and  sailed  away,  to  leave 
those  who  remained,  despondent,  listless,  nursing  their  misfor- 
tunes, and  too  few  for  generous  enterprises.  The  merchants' 
ships  took  their  factors  back  to  France,  to  a  constituency  which 
counted  gains,  and  cared  nothing  for  those  who  rendered  profits 
possible. 

The  dream  of  empire  which  Champlain  had  cherished  had 

come  to  this.     There  was  a  fortress  with  a  few  small  guns  on 

the  cliffs  of  Cape  Diamond.    Along  the  foot  of  the  precipice  was 

a  row  of  unsightly  and  unsubstantial  buildings,  where  the  scant 

population  lived,  carried  on  their  fev^  handicrafts,  and  stored 

their  winter's  provisions.     It  was  a  motley  crowd  which  in  the 

drear  days  sheltered  itself  here  from  the  cold  blasts  that  blew 

along  the  river  channel.     There  was  the  military  officer,  who 

sought  to  give  some  color  to  the  scene  in  showing  as  much  of 

his  brilliant  garb  as  the  cloak  which  shielded  him  from  the  wind 

would  permit.     The  priest  went  from  house  to  house  with  his 

looped  hat.     The  lounging  hunter  preferred  for  the  most  part 

to  tell  his  story  within  doors.     Occasionally  you  could  mark  a 

stray  savage,  who  had  come  to  the  settlement  for  food.     Such 

characters  as  these,  and  the  lazy  laborers  taking  a  season  of 

rest  after  the  summer's  traffic,  would  be  grouped  in  the  narrow 

street  beneath  the  precipice  whenever  the  wintry  sun  gave  more 

than  its  usual  warmth  at  midday.     It  was  hardly  a  scene  to 

inspire  confidence  in  the  future.     It  was  not  the  beginning  of 

empire. 

If  one  climbed  the  path  leading  to  the  top  of  the  rugged 
slope,  he  could  see  a  single  cottage,  that  looked  as  if  a  settler 
had  come  to  stay.  There  were  cattle-sheds,  and  signs  of  thrift 
in  its  garden  plot.  If  Champlain  had  had  other  colonists  like 
the  man  who  built  this  house  and  marked  out  this  farmstead,  he 
might  have  died  with  the  hope  that  New  France  had  been 
planted  in  this  great  valley  on  the  basis  of  domestic  life.  The 
widow  of  this  genuine  settler,  Hebert,  still  occupied  the  house 
at  the  time  when  Champlain  died,  and  they  point  out  to  you 
now,  in  the  upper  town,  the  spot  where  this  one  early  house- 
holder of  Quebec  made  his  little  struggle  to  instill  a  proper 
spirit  of  colonization  into  a  crov/d  of  barterers  and  adventurers. 
From  this  upper  level  the  visitor  at  this  time  might  have  glanced 
across  the  valley  of  the  St.  Charles  to  but  a  single  other  sign  of 


CHAMPLAIN'S  BURIAL. 


155 


permanency  in  the  stone  manor  house  of  Robert  Gifart,  which 
had  the  previous  year  been  built  at  Beauport. 

We  know  that  the  Jesuit  Lalemant  did  the  last  service,  and 
Le  Jeune  spoke  a  eulogy  when  they  laid  the  dead  hero  away. 
As  time  rolled  on,  the  place  of  his  burial  was  forgotten,  and 
it  is  not  many  years  since  the  growing  fame  of  one  who  has 
not  been  inaptly  called  the  Father  of  Canada  prompted  the 
antiquary  to  search  for  the  sacred  resting-place  of  the  dead. 
Theories  as  regards  the  identity  of  its  site  have  been  more  than 
once  advanced  and  abandoned  within  the  last  thirty  years.  It 
seems,  after  all  has  been  said  and  done,  that  the  present  bettei 
judgment  allows  that  every  trace  of  the  mortuary  chapel 
where  he  was  laid  to  rest  has  been  swept  away.  It  was  in  what 
is  now  an  open  square  in  the  upper  town.  If  Champlain's 
remains  were  taken  to  another  place  when  the  chapel  was  de- 
stroyed, the  act  was  done  without  any  record  which  has  been 
preserved. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FROM   THE    DEATH   OF   ClIAMPLAIN   TO  THE    REOKGANIZATION 

OF   THE   GOVERNMENT. 

1635-16G;1. 

With  the  death  of  Champlain,  Canada  was  left  without  a 
ruler,  except  for  the  supervision  exercised  by  the  governor  of 
Moutmagny.   '^'""^^  ^^WevH.     Charles  lluault  de   Montniagny  had 

been  appointed  in  Champlain's  place  as  early  as 
March,  163G.  It  does  not  seem  probable  that  the  death  of 
Champlain,  at  a  seasu;>  when  the  St.  Lawrence  was  ice-bound, 
could  have  been  known  in  Paris  so  early  in  the  year.  If  it 
was  not  known,  tlie  superseding-  of  Champlain  must  already 
have  been  determined  upon,  and  very  likely  at  the  instigation 
Arrives,  1C30.  ^^  *^^^  'losuits.     It  was  Juue  wheu  the  new  governor 

reached  Quebec.  Almost  immediately  Le  Jeune  and 
his  brotherhood  folt  tliat  they  had  gained  a  sympathizing 
friend.  Montmagny  had  scarcely  set  foot  to  ground  before  he 
fell  prostrate  at  tlie  siglit  of  a  cross.  He  lost  no  time  in  stand- 
ing godfather  to  a  converted  heathen.  A  neo])hyte  had  l)ut 
just  died,  and  Moutmagny  conspicuously  walked  in  the  funeral 
procession. 

When  liis  piety  was  thus  manifested,  the  governor  turned  to 
more  worldly  affairs.  Quebec  had  become  a  rather  i)itiable 
home  for  some  two  hundred  souls,  but  such  as  it  was,  it  made 
the  centre  of  the  interest  which  France  had  in  the  new  world. 
The  ruler  wlio  had  arrived  was  a  far  less  enterprising  man  than 
tlie  one  whom  these  two  hundred  Frenchmen,  barring  the  Jes- 
uits, were  mourning.  If  Champlain  had  lived  and  continued  in 
office,  there  would  probably  have  been  early  occasion  to  chroni- 
cle some  expedition  to  the  west  to  follow  out  tlie  hopes  Nvlui'Ii 
the  story  of  Nicolet  had  raised.  As  it  was,  that  adventurer's 
story  seems  hardly  to  have  met  any  immediate  res])on:,o,  and 


MONTMAGNY  AND   THE  JESUITS. 


167 


it  was  not  till  several  years  had  passed  that  it  found,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  record  in  the  chronicles  of  the  priests.  A  triumph 
of  the  church  might  have  been  sooner  recoyi  ized. 

Montniagny's  purpose  was  rather  to  consolidate  the  colony 
and  render  it  more  defensible  with  the  scant  force  at  his  eom- 
mauil.  So  he  strengthened  the  fort,  and  marked  out  an  upper 
town  on  the  adjacent  plateau.  This  project  was  quite  beyond 
what  seemed  to  be  necessaiy  ;  for  there  was  very  little  of  j)er- 
manent  interest  in  the  town  among  the  scant  population  which 


Le  jeune. 

[From  an  old  Print.] 

filled  the  tenements  along  the  lower  strand.  This  population 
was  largely  made  up  of  the  fur  traders,  who  only  came  and  went. 
The  priest  was  a  steadier  denizen,  but  he  was  likely  to  wander 
back  and  forth  through  the  wilderness.  It  was  his  career  to 
keej)  the  miss' jns  in  fitful,  if  not  constant,  communication  with 
the  town.  The  gliding  nuns  were  barely  more  than  birds  of 
passage  alighted  on  the  way  to  heaven,  and  flitted  from  cabin 
to  hospital. 

The  black-robed  Jesuits  exercised  an  influence  that  will  be 
viewed  difi'erently  according  to  the  measure  of  sympathy  which 


168 


CANADA,    lG3r>~lGG.J. 


!l  , 


.ui. 


attaches  to  their  devotion  and  dominance.  These  qualities  in 
jreiuit«nmi  t'^at  l^o<ly  have  been  held  to  be  conconntants  of  hardi- 
Fr«...:Uc.u.a.  jj^jyj  ^jj^i  lu'i-oisni,  but  an  aj?e  less  addicted  to  .s(>nti- 
mentalism,  and  a  faith  more  ind»  .od  with  spiritualism,  are  apt 
to  diminish  reputations  once  exalted.  The  exclusion  of  the 
Franciscans  accounts  for  nuich  that  is  lacking  which  might  have 
made  life  more  endurable  under  their  balmier  and  tTtrength- 
giving  influences.  It  was  only  those  that  shunned  the  settle- 
ments  and  lost  themselves  in  the  woods,  and  became  in  some 
respects  mcu-e  skilled  in  woodcraft  than  their  Indian  compan- 
ions, who  breathed  the  fresh  air  that  su])i)orts  reliant  men,  —or 
at  least  the  enemies  of  the  Jesuits  tliought  so,  when  they  con- 
templated those  who  fled  from  their  priestly  influence. 

The  missions  which  Brebeuf  and  his  companions  had  insti- 
tuted among  the  Ilurons  in  1G34  were  still  the  outposts  of  the 
church,  and  for  some  years  we  have  the  reports  respecting 
them  annually  sent  to  Quebec  by  Lemercier.  It  has  been  reck- 
oned that  these  adventurous  missionaries  had  gathered  into 
what  they  called  the  fold  of  Christ  perhaps  a  hundred  out  of 
the  sixteen  thousand  souls  making  up  the  Huron  communities. 
It  was  not  theirs  to  reckon  the  cost  against  so  paltry  a  gain. 
The  happiness  of  a  single  soul  was  enough. 

Every  attempt  to  preserve  communications  between  these 
remote  stations  and  the  main  settlement  was  a  hazardous  one. 
The  Iroquois  were  a  danger  both  seen  and  unseen,  and  their 
fierce  ubiquity  stood  appallingly  in  the  way  of  exploration  out- 
side of  the  Huron  country. 

In  1637,  the  authorities  at  Quebec  began  to  gather  a  few  fam- 
Sh^/-      ^^""^^  "^  *''*^'  Montagnais  in  a  little  settlement  at  St. 
""P '  '■      Joseph's  (SiUery),  the  better  to  protect  them  from  the 
savage  Iroquois.     The  trembling  creatures  were  not  safe  even 
im.  *^^®^'^'  ^^^  ^'y  1640  some  nuns  who  had  been  adniin- 

istering  to  the  sick  among  them  were  withdrawn  to 
Quebec  for  safety.  The  confedoi-ates  were  everywhere  on  the 
war-path.  Letters  from  the  remoter  missions  were  not  infre- 
quently intercepted  by  them.  The  black-robes  in  Quebec,  anx- 
ious for  the  safety  of  their  biothers  afar,  had  frequent  intervals 
of  suspense  that  only  good  luck  relieved. 

^  A  report  from  the  Huron  country  at  this  time  makes  men- 
tion of  a  map  which  the  P?'re  Ragueneau  had  drawn  of  this 


» 


MISSIONS. 


159 


» 


western  country,  but  it  has  unfortunately  not  come  down  to  us. 
It  might  have  shown  in  truer  position  tlian  Champlain  „ 
Had  given  it,  the  great  cataract,  which  Vimont  was  ""*''• 
now  calling  Onguiaahra.     This  director  of  the  Canadian  mis- 
sions also  forwarded  to  Paris  a  letter  of  Le  Jeune,  written  in 
September,  1G40,  in  which  it  is  said  that  an  Englishman,  com- 
ing by  the  Kennebec  route,  accompanied  by  a  single  servant 
and  some  Abenaki  Indians,  had  reached  Quebec,  in  the  pre- 
vious  June,  on  the  way  to  find   a  western  sea;  but  that  the 
French  governor  had  turned  him  back.     In  the  same  Itelation 
it  is  reported  that  a  i)risoner  to  the  Fire  or  Tobacco 
nation,  coming  from  the  southwest,  had  represented  wtuna"'*' 
that  a  region  beyond  his  home  was  so  mild  that  corn  '""""' 
could  be  planted  twice  a  year,  the  last  crop  being  gathered  in 
December. 

It  was  such  stories  as  these  that  both  created  and  answered 
the  yearning  of  the  geographical  sense  in  its  uneasy  moods. 
Every  hint  of  a  salubrious  climate  and  a  possible  western  way 
was  comforting  and  reassuring. 

While  the  Jesuit  Relations  were  making  such  stories  cur- 
rent,  they  offered  something  much  less  vague  in  the  reports, 
which  showed  that  Nicolet  had  already  reached  regions  which 
were  unknown  before,  ana  that  a  new  mission  had  ^^^,,^^ 
been  established  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Communi-  '**''"«• 
cation  with  this  distant  station  was  evidently  to  be  maintained 
by  chance  and  at  long  intervals,  if  maintained  at  all. 

The  priests  who  had  accomplished  this  exploration  in  1641 
were  the  Fathers  Eaymbault  and  Jogues.     They  had 
started  for  the  mission  of  Ste.  Marie  at  the  foot  of  '^^tf^r 
Georgian  Bay,  near  the  Huron  villages.     Leaving  in  ''°^"''' 
June,  they  were  in  September  at  the  rapids  between  Huron  and 
Superior,  where  only  Nicolet  had  preceded  them.     They  found 
two  thousand  savages  encamped  there,  or  about  ten  times  the 
number  usually  abiding  at  the  Sault.     Among  them  were  the 
Pottawattamies,  who  had  fled  north  before  wandering  bands  of 
the  Iroquois,  and   were   now  fraternizing  with    the  « „     .. 
Uj  lb  ways.     Ihe  priests  heard  from  them  of  the  great  ^i^.'^-  "J"^ 
river  and  of  a  valorous  people  along  its  banks.     This  ^^^^^^)- 
unknown  tribe,  by  a  clipping  of  their  full  name,  we  know 
to-day  under  the  designation  of  Sioux.     It  was  while  here  at 


'i 


IGO 


!! 


CANADA,   1635-1GG3. 


m 


lfi42. 

JuKiioa 

taken. 


the  rapi.ls  tliat  one  of  the  Jesuits  —  Father  Rayinl)ault  —  passed 
Raymbauit  Rwrv,  aiul  Vimont,  in  reporting  tlie  occurrence  to  his 
superior  in  Pari^,  saitl  that  Kuynibault  hojjed  to  reach 
China  across  the  wilderness  but  God  diverted  his  path  to 
Iieaven  1 

By  this  time  the  Fronoli  woio  l.oginning  to  perceive  that  the 
possession  of  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  wouhl  render  the  passage 
from  Ontario  to  J  luron  safer  and  easier,  and  without  the  loss 
of  time  required  for  the  route  by  tlie  OUawa.     Jiut  an  impend- 
ing  Iroquois  war  put  off  the  fortunate  day.     With  tlie  firearms 
which  the  confederates  luid  obtained  u;  ihe  Dutch  at  Albc-jny, 
—  the  main  station  of  that  peoph;,  for  New  Amsterdam  had  at 
this   time   little   more  than  a  score  of   dwellers,  —  they  had 
increased  both  their  daring  and  tlieir  power  of  offense.     An 
api)alling  stroke  soon  came.     In  August  (1G42),  twelv.'  Huron 
canoes,  returning  from  their  summer  traffic  with  the  French, 
were  waylaid  by  a  band  of  Iroquois  in  ambush,  and 
Father  Jogues  and  some  adherents,  ag-in  on  their  way 
to  the  missions,  fell  into  the  hands  of  those  savages. 
Thii   victors  with  their  prisoners  m;ido  a  circuit  through  the 
woods  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kichei  iU,  to  avoid  the  fort  which 
the  French  had   constructed  on  its  banks.     Their  canoes  were 
soon  dashing  against  the  stream  on  the  way  to  Lake  Cham- 
plain.     South  they  passed,  and  entering  the  passage  near  where 
Chamj)lain  had  taught  the  Iroquois  the  value  of  firearms  thirty- 
three  years  before,  the  victorious  i)arty   pushed  out  into  the 
upper  tributary  lake.     Father  Jogues  was  perhaps  the  first  of 
Europeans  to  see  the  untamed  glories  tf  Lake  George. 

Blaeu's  Atlas  of  1635  shows  how  much  at  fault  the  Dutch 
were  at  this  time  as  to  the  ]iosition  of  liake  Cham- 
plain ;  indeed,  taking  the  English  notion  as  expressed 
in  the  Laconia  patent,  it  seems  almost  as  if  before 
this  experience  of  Jogues,  and  even  afterwards,  both 
the  Dutch  and  the  English  were  inclined  to  confound  the 
waters  on  the  west  of  Vernjont  with  Lai.  Winnei)esaukee  in 
New  Hampshire.  At  the  same  time  they  brought  in  their  mai>s 
the  Lacus  Irocociensis  too  far  south.  This  notion  long  i)re- 
vailed  in  the  Dutch  maps,  taking  the  hint  doubtless  from  that 
of  Champlain  in  1613,  and  was  accepted  by  Ogilby  and  other 
English  cartographers  for  forty  or  fifty  years   after  Jogues's 


Lakes 
Champlain 
nnd  George. 
GeoRraplii- 
cal  errors. 


FOUNDING  OF  MONTREAL. 

adventures.  The  mai)  of  the  3fercatnr-II<mdins  Atlas  in  1636 
seems  to  indieute  that  a  conception  of  this  water  tributary  to 
Lake  C  iianiphiiu,  now  known  as  Lake  George,  had  been  derived 
from  some  source  before  that  date,  (hough  the  basin  of  the  two 
hikes  is  placed  after  the  prevaih'ng     Isconception. 

We  have  no  occasion  ct  this  pi^mt  to  depict  that  sort  of 
martyrdom,  «'mulating  the  stoical  endunmcnof  the  ragan,  which 
the  Jesuit  hi    ovians  delight  to  honor,  iu   the   torturf  i  which 
these  captive  priests  experienced.    Th    seer,    of  thi;i  suffering 
is  of  mon  iiiiportani«>  to  us  now,  ai.  that  of  the    irst 
ac(piaintanco  of  tl    French  with  the  southern  water-  v/atoSd 
shed  of  f  hitario.     We  ha^*'  Jogues's  own  account  of  °^"""'"°- 
it,  1)1. th  in  wliat  lie  wrote  and  in  the  jjcrsonal  testimony  which 
he  gave  liis  cuuntrymen,  when,  the  next  ye  '•  (1043),  he  was 
rescued  by  the  neighboring  Dutch  from  his  s.ivage  tormentors. 
Tie  was  sent  !     them  to  France,  and  returned  once  more,  after 
an  absence  of  two  years,  ^o  othci  miseries.    It  was  while  at  one 
of  t!ie  Iroquois  vii:  ..res  (    uno,  1643)  that  Jogue    de- 
scribed the  seven  hiindied  warriors  whicl     u>  found  ImoliKUm*' 
about  him,  and  said  that   they  had   thn      iiundred  ^"*^"°'"' 
Dutch  arquebuses  an)ong  them,  and  that  their  war  parties  were 
departing  to  the  north  to  make  havoc  along  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Bcfoio  Jogues  had  returned  to  Quebec,  a  brother  Jesuit, 
Bressani,  endeavoring  to  open  communication  with 
the  Hia-ou  mission,  which  ha<'  been  shut  off  for  three  ^''''""'" 
years,  was  likewise  cai)tured  by  one  of  these  marauding  bands 
of  the  confederatt  i,  and  went  through  the  same  miserable  ex- 
perience of  torture,  to  be  res  ued  in  his  turn  i>y  the  Dutch  in 
much  the  same  way.  In  another  year  this  lalian  zealot  also 
was  facing  once  more  tlie  perils  of  a  mission  li "  ■. 

There  is  a  strange  story  to  tell  of  the  way  in  which  a  ii'nv  and 
permanent  h<  '  tlement  was  pushed  forward  to  an  island  j,„„„^,j„  „j 
at  the  moui  of  the  Ottawa,  gaining  an.  lier  stej)  in  ""»"•«»»■ 
the  westward  occuiin on.  To  se.  the  piety  of  those  who  M'ere 
instrumental  in  the  founding  of  Montreal,  one  needs  to  be  in 
the  spirit  of  the  movemout.  Without  suca  s>7npathy,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  perceive  its  grotesqueness  sooner  than  its  religious 
fervor. 

Different  persons  in  France,  having  no  knowledge  or  inter- 


-\m 


1G2 


C/INADA,  1635-1608. 


■^1 


1  I 


h.  \ 


I 


CARTE  DK 

LISLE  DEMONTnEAL 

ET  DE  SES  ENA^mONS 

Dwtsfe's  furlfs  M«nuicn(»  Ju  Dcj.o.il  <Ift  Carles  Pbioj 
ft  Joununix  lie  laMainiie 

Ihry BillinJlij)(Jtifm'  ti  Ificlryrapfir  fit,  lajtaniu. 

•744- 


MONTREAL 


MONTUEAL. 


163 


V 


:i-^\  ^¥iii^ 


J/  !  ItlfllAfllJ'Iflllllll 

pZi'f.'A  t-  ,-  -^  </<•  .1/''' 

/ 


oit  atuutu^ifui  ir  uu^ 

Vf'hatcati  Guay 

I^ieiif.vr/'iiiwuiievJf  France  dtitSi  Tbuet 
• I' 


iRiv 


Gixuuies-Ltrueitdf  France,  df  iSaJTourt 


AND  VICINITV. 


JUhnUittnd  i'e<dfi 


t^' 


;^-i 


164 


C^iV^Z>.l,  1635-1663. 


course  with  each  other,  behold  visions  of  a  spot  in  the  Cana- 
dian wilds  where  they  are  separately  impelled  to  found  hospi- 
tals and  establish  religious  orders.  The  Jesuit  delations  had 
indeed  told  their  readers  something  of  what  this  spot  was, 
where  now  stands  the  chief  commercial  city  of  Canada ;  but 


MAISOXNfiUVE. 
[From  Suite's  Caiiadieiis-Franfais,  vol.  iii.] 

the  story  loses  something  of  its  lesson  to  the  faithful,  if  each 
enraptured  visionary  knew  anything  of  it  in  so  obvious  a  way. 
As  It  happened,  two  of  these  ecstatic  men  met  by  a  miracle,  em- 
braced lil^e  old  friends,  and  took  a  walk  together  to  outline  their 
conjomed  plans.  The  Abbe  Faillon,  who  tells  us  of  it,  might 
have  walked  with  them,  he  knows  so  much  of  it  all,  and  in  this 
nineteenth  century  tells  us  the  whole  story  in  more  than  one  of 


1 


M 


FOUNDING  OF  MONTREAL. 


165 


his  books,  with  a  pleasing  and  unquestioning  faith.  We  read 
in  his  pages  how  Olier  and  Dauversiere,  with  others  who  were 
allured  by  the  ecstasy,  got  what  money  was  needed,  and  secured 
the  island  by  a  grant  from  the  Hundred  Associates.      These 


~->^^;>-- 


JEANNE  MANCE. 
[From  Suite's  Canadieim-Fmiifdis,  vol.  iii.] 


astute  fur  traders,  however,  were  careful  enough  in  their  grant 
to  guard  the  perpetuity  of  tlaeir  own  rights  of  trade  from  tlie 
infringements  of  priest,  nun,  and  invalid.      At  tliis  juncture, 
Paul  de  Chomedy,   Sieur  de    Maisonneuve,  stepped  sj,,,,,,, 
forward,  sword  in  one  hand  and  psalter  iu  the  other,  MlusSmfeuve. 


I' 


If  is 


d 


;1 


166 


CANADA,  1635-1603. 


I 


as  che  commanding  spirit  who  was  to  govern  this  little  colony. 
With  equal  opportuneness  Mademoiselle  Jeanne  Maut-e,  fit 
Jeanne  govcmess  for  those  of  her  sex,  appeared  at  Kochelle, 
^'""'*-  ready  to  embark  with  this  strange  embryo  colony. 
Where  she  was  going  she  neither  knew  nor  cared ;  she  was  im- 
pelled to  do  the  work  of  the  Lord,  and  would  fain  attempt  it. 

So  with  this  miraculously  compounded  company,  Maisson- 
neuve  and  the  lady  were  wafted  to  sea  in  one  of  the  ships, 
while  Olier  and  the  other  leaders  stayed  behind  to  make  other 
worldly  preparatioivs.  When  the  pioneer  ship  arrived  at  Que- 
bec, it  was  too  late  to  ascend  the  river  beyond,  and,  obliged 
to  delay,  the  eager  colonists  did  not  find  a  ready  welcome  at 

the  hands  of  the 
constituted  author- 
ities. The  soli- 
citude which  was 
expressed  at  the 
dangers  pictured 
for  tli^m  in  so  ex- 
posed a  situation  as 
Montreal  was  evi- 
dently Viot  so  much 
the  result  of  anxi- 
ety for  their  wel- 
fare, as  jealousy  of 
their  movement. 
This  ungracious- 
ness did  not  wear 
off  during  the  win- 
ter, and  Maison- 
neuve's  (ompany, 
quartered  at  Sil- 
lery,  were  quite 
ready,  when    the 

MADAME  DK  LA  PELTRIE.  Hl^viug  OpCUcd,  to 

move  up  to  their  destined  plantation.  In  tlie  mean  while  their 
supreme  faith  had  attracted  the  attention  of  Madame 
de  la  Peltrie,  and  she  was  ready  to  leave  the  Ursu- 

lines  at  Quebec  and  join  the  new-comers. 

In  May,  1642,  the  flotilla  of  the  enthusiasts  reached  the  site 


Mailaiiie  de 
la  Peltrie. 


THE  HUNDRED  ASSOCIATES. 


167 


of  Montreal,     i'atlier  Vimont  welcomed  them  to  the  spot  with 
a  holy  ceremoniul,  accepting  them  as  a  charge  of  the 
order  of  Jesus.     So  Montreal  was  begun  on  the  green   "^'" 
grass  of  the  river-side,  skirted  about  with  a  screen  of  the  forest 
just  as  the  buds  were  swelling.  ' 

The  experiment  curiously  reversed  ordinary  ways  of  settle- 
ment The  town  was  not  founded  to  invite  the  erection  of 
a  hospital  as  the  ills  of  life  demanded  it,  but  a  hospital  was 
to  be  put  up  to  invite  settlers  to  put  a  town  about  it.  It  was 
a  piece  of  good  luck  that  the  Iroquois  let  them  alone  for  the 
interval  while  they  were  constructing  their  buildings  and  pali- 
sading their  ground.  The  river  itself  proved  a  bitterer  foe 
than  the  savage,  and  at  one  time  nearly  drowned  them  out  It 
was  to  celebrate  their  deliverance  from  this  disaster  that  they 
marched  out  to  the  mountain  which  had  attracted  Cartier  and 
set  up  a  cross  on  its  summit.  ' 

Montreal,  thus  placed  and  fortified,  under  the  zealous  cap- 
taincy of  a  man  like  Maisonneuve,  proved  an  important  post 
tor  the  western  progress  of  civilization.  It  was  suitably  situ- 
ated to  form  a  base  for  the  protection  of  the  Ottawa  route  on 
the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  was  well  planned  for 
an  advance  of  population  by  the  main  stream  of  the  St.  Law- 
renee. 

There  was  little  hope  for  the  future,  however,  with  the  Hun- 
dred  Ah;,ociates  still  farming  out  the  resources  of  the  .,  „  ,  . 
county.  The  piety  of  the  religious  orders  was  a^S"' 
shocked  '^  the  company's  inertness  in  all  that  might  conduce  to 
the  convexsK>n  of  the  heathen.  Those  who  had  the  -ood  of  the 
colony  most  at  heart  failed  to  see  any  purpose  in  the^  Associates 
to  increase  the  colony  or  improve  its  condition.  Its  spirit  had 
manifested  no  purpose  but  to  fill  its  coffers 

The  charter  of  the  company  had  given  ])ower  to  estadish 
fiefs  or  seigneuries,  with  the  obHgati<M.  u,,qh  those  who  received 
tliem  to  settle  immigrants  upon  the  «.„!.  It  was  a  gift  whirh 
compe  led  the  possessor,  of  the  grants  to  incur  outlays  and  ,,er- 
torm  duties  whi.-h  were  variously  fulfilled.  [;,)  to  1641  there 
had  been  eight  c.igneuries  established,  and  ^e  lutve  seen  how  at 
Uiamplain  s  death  the  erection  rrf  a  »fcfme  Bianor 
house  at  Beaui)ort  ha.l  marked  on-  of  Lh*.m.  When  ^^:r' 
the  abolition  of   the  company  took    place   In   Febru-  '^"^'""'^" 


168 


CANADA,  1635-1663. 


$'■ 


;j 


ary,  1663,  there  had  been  sixty-five  such  manorial  grants  o£  im- 
portance, beside  some  of  little  account.     This  all  signified  an 


montep:al  and  vicinity. 


old-world  and  disjointed  way  of  settling  the  country,  subversive 
of  homogeneous  activity.    The  result  was  what  might  have  been 


PEACE  AND   WAR. 


169 


expected,  and  ,n  striking  contrast  to  that  union  of  sentiment 
among  he  English  colonists  which,  at  this  time  ri643),  broujrht 
about  the  New  England  confederacy,  representing  in  Mafsa- 
chusetts  Bay  a  one  something  like  twenty  thousand  souls,  throw- 
ing off  their  bondage  to  the  traditions  of  the  mother  land 
and  enacting  of  themselves  their  code  of  laws  in  a  -Body  of 
-Liberties.  "^ 

Canada  had  scant  hope  in  the  peace  with  the  Iroquois  which 
was   close   at  hand.     Couture,  who   had   been  captured  with 
Jogues,had  been  adopted  by  the  Mohawks,  and  had  used  his 
exertions  to  foste^-  among  them  a  spirit  of  amity  toward    the 
French.     It  so  happened  that  a  number  of  the  Iroquois  had 
been  taken  b^,  the  Algonquins,  and  clemency  had  been  shown 
to  them  at  the  instigalion  of  the  French.     This  incident  gave 
persuasiveness  to  Couture's  api)eals,  and  the  Mohawks 
were  induced  to  send  an  embassy  to  Three  Rivers  to  ll°oXl 
propose  a  peace.     With  much  parade  the  emblematic  """"'■ 
belts  were  hung  up  and  counted,  and  the  hatchet  was  thrown 
away. 

But  the  peace  proved  delusive.    Unfortunately,  the  Mohawks 
only  had  proposed  and  concluded  it.     If  the  Senecas  and  the 
other  confederates  refused  to  abide  by  it,  there  was  some  gain 
ill  holding  the   Mohawks   alone  to  their  agreement 
Jogues,  who  had  now  come  back  from  France,  was  I'^l^o""""' 
sent,  ill  May,  1646,  to  try  to  hold  that  tribe  to  their  ""'"" 
pledge.     In  a  montli  he  was  back  in  Quebec,  but  no  great  con- 
fidence  resulted.     In  August,  he  was  sent  again,  but  he  was 
waylaid  in  his  path  by  a  wandering  band  of  Mohawks  and  led  as 
a  prisoner  to  their  town,  only  to  be  struck  down  as  he   t„  „,, 
entered  a  lodge,  whither  he  had  been  invited  to  a  feast.  kiUed'uuG. 
Brained  by  a  hatchet  whicli  had  not  been  thrown  very  far  in 
token  of  amity,  a  soul  singularly  dear  to  Catholic  hearts  passes 
from  history. 

There  was  no  loiioer  any  doubt  that  the  Mohawks  were  deter- 
mined  for  war  ir    lUJ  Mi.-e  with  their  brothers.     The 
confederates   at  this    Lime   numbered    i)erhaps    three   ^^''"' "'"="'• 
thousand  warriors,— such   is  Parkman's  estimate,  —  and   this 
horde  must  have  been  much  less  in  extent  than  the  llurou  mid 
Algonquin  could  o^  nose  to  them  in  combination,   to   say  no 


'0 
li 


■  i 


170 


CANADA,  1635-1663. 


thing  of  what  the  French  might  add.    The  Iroquois  superiority 
consisted  rather  in  an  indomitable  fierceness  concentrated  by  a 


union  of  energies. 


DUDLEY'S  MAP, 


With  allies  so  ineffectual  as  the  northern  tribes  were,  the 
French  could  hardly  hope  for  a  successful  issue  of  the  wir. 
They  certainly  had  no  force  of  their  own  to  protect  the  country 


CANADA   EXPOSED. 


which 


171 


Z3  Gran 


) 


ft'* 


.   claimed  to  possess.     Their  whole  line,  from  the  St 
l^awrence  Gulf  to  Lake  Huron,  was  particularly  vul- 
nerable.    The   church   had   pushed  her   missionaries  J'St? 

up  the  Saguenay  to  the  nations  of  '""'°'^'" 
^c^n^aenAi  the  Porcupine  and  the  White  Fish,  and  if  the 

^  traders  of  these  distant  tribes  carried   back 
-  from   Tadoussac,   season    after   season,   some 
remnant  of  the  priests'  instructions,  the  new 
faith  was  far  less  abiding  than  the  fear  of  the 
Iroquois,  from  which  they  did  not  escape  even 
in  their  northernmost  limits.     The  passing  of 
these  marauding  bands  was  constantly  break- 
ing the  peace  along  the  Frenchmen's  northern 
bounds.    Canada  was  scarcely  less  endangered 
along  its  southern  flank.     The  English  were 
seated  along  the  coast  of  Maine,  and  no  one 
yet  was  quite  certain  that,  among  the  vallevs 
stretching  from  the  sea  towards  the  St.  Law- 
rence, there  might  not  be  a  feasible  approach 
for  an  enemy.     Robert  Dudley,   indeed,  was 
showing  at  this  time,  in  his  maps,  that  there 
was  a  waterway  to  connect  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
with  the  St.  Lawrence.     Farther  west,  the  ap- 
proach to  Canada  by  Lake  Champlain  was  a 
deadly  opportunity  for  her  inveterate  enemies. 
The  French  had  not  yet  dared   to   confront 
these  foes  along  ii,c   shores  of   Ontario   and 
Erie,  and  the  Canadian  bushranger  knew  as 
little  of  these  shores  as  Champlain  had  known 
fifteen  years  before.     Lalemant  had  described 
the  Niagara  Eiver  in  1641  without  even  refer- 
ring to  the  great  cataract ;  but  Ragueneau  in 
his  Relation  of  1648  first  mentioned  it  as  of 
"  frightful  height."     The    French  knew  much 
more  of  Winnebago  Lake,  far  more  distant  as 
it  was,  and  their  pioneers  had  possibly  walked 
from  the  Fox  to  the  AYisconsin,  to  mino-le  the 
water  of  the  St.  Lawrence  valley,  dripping  from  their  leggings, 
with  the  current  that  reached  in  its  flow  the  tropical  south. 
The  great  western  track  still  lay  along  the  Ottawa,  and  amon- 


J  Sa 


^ 


1647. 


172 


CA  NA  DA ,   1635-1063. 


w 


f  I 


f     H 


the  friendly  Ilurons.  While  this  tribe  protected  the  route,  its 
villages  at  the  sauio  time  invited  the  Iroquois  attack.  It  was 
soon  to  come. 

In  1648,  a  band  of  the  confederates,  chiefly  Mohawks  and 
Tiie  Hurou8  ^^"^cas,  iuvadcd  the  Huron  country  in  the  absence  of 
iws'^'f '  ^*^  warriors.  They  devastated  one  of  their  chief  towns 
and  scattered  its  inhabitants.  This  was  in  midsum- 
mer. Winter  came  on  and  gave  a  false  security,  and  before 
it  was  over  the  enemy  fell  upon  St.  Ignace  (1649)  and  made  a 
more  dreadful  havoc. 

Two  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  ui  ck-rohes  were  here 

among  their  neophytes. 
Gabriel  Lalemant,  Paris- 
ian by  birth,  a  professor 
by  training,  had  carried 
into  the  wilderness  the 
delicacy  and  air  of  a  stu- 
dent. Father  Brcbeuf, 
quite  the  reverse  in  ap- 
pearance, a  giant  in  frame, 
brawny  and  active,  was  fit 
to  measure  strength  with 
the  hardiest  savage  whom 
he  taught.  Both  mission- 
aries summoned  an  almost 
immeasurable  courage  to 
bear  the  tortures  which 
they  suffered  amid  the 
burning  town. 

The  blow  could  not  be 
parried,  and  one  after  one 
the  fifteen  Huron  towns 
succumbed  or  were  abandoned.  The  disjiersal  of  the  sufferers 
andde-  was  comj^lctc.  The  Hurons  were  destroyed  as  a  peo- 
Btroyed.  ^^^^  Such  as  survivcd  fled  east  and  west,  —  some  will 
yet  be  encountered  as  we  follow  future  explorers  towards  the 
distant  west ;  some  gathered  under  the  protection  of  the  French 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Quebec  ;  while  others  purchased  immu- 
nity from  further  spoliation  l)y  migrating  to  the  Seneca  country 
and  merging  themselves  in  the  Iroquoiau  confederacy. 


unauEUF. 

[His  bust  in  silver  at  Quebec.     His  skull  cau  be  seen 
tlirougli  the  oval  in  front.] 


mi 


DRUILLETTES  AND  ELIOT. 


173 


The  Huron  country  never  again  knew  the  traces  of  this  peo- 
ple, and  only  the  modern  archjeologist,  wandering  between  the 
latter-day  villages  of  an  alien  race,  finds  in  the  forests  the  evi- 
dences of  the  former  occupants. 

No  event  in  Canadian  history  had  heretofore  attracted  so 
much  attention  in  Europe  as  this  foreboding  dispersal  of  the 
Hurons.  The  lielations  of  Ragueneau,  whi(!h  gave  the  details 
of  this  disaster,  were  eagerly  enough  sought  to  warrant  editions 
in  French  at  Lille  as  well  as  at  Paris,  and  for  European  schol- 
ars  in  general  there  was  demand  for  a  third  edition  in  Latin. 

The  Canadians  themselves  had  never  before  felt  so  distress- 
ingly  the  results  which  followed  in  the  train  of  Champlain's 
infelicitous  onsfet  at  Ticonderoga  half  a  century  before.     Their 
rulers  were  even  ready  to  turn  to  the  English  for  help.     Four 
years  before   (1647),  Winthrop  of    Massachusetts   had   made 
advances  looking  to  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  the  powers  at 
Quebec,  prompted  perhaps  by  the  presence  there  of  La  Tour 
of  Acadia,  who  had  had,  a  few  years  before,  some  pleasant  rela- 
tions with  Boston.    The  English  governor's  death,  however,  had 
intervened  to  prevent  any  such  consummation.    There  was  now 
an  opportunity  for  even  a  closer  alliance  than  trade  could  sug- 
gest,  and   Father  Druillettes,  who  was  serving  at  a 
mission  near  the  sources  of  the  rivers  in  Maine,  was  l^ieJiZ 
sent  (1651)  down  their  courses  to  the  sea,  with  in-  *°''°''°"" 
struction  to  make  his  way  to  Boston  for  a  conference.      He 
was   well   received   at   the  Puritan   capital.      His  ambassado- 
rial office  protected  him  from  laws  which  that  community  had 
sought  to  level  against  Komanists.     A  Boston  merchant  even 
provided  a  locked  chamber  for  Druillettes's  devotions,  where 
he  could  set  up  his  altar  unobserved.     Eliot,  the  New 
England  apostle  to  the  Indians,  quite  opened  his  heart  ZTpX 
to  the  priest,  and  the  two  mutually  and  with  apparent  ^"°'' 
interchange  of  sympathy  rehearsed  their  experiences  in  a  com- 
mon  vocation,  for  Eliot  had  been  five  years  preaching  to  the 
Naticks,  and  he  had  now  four  hundred  neophytes  in  his  fold. 

The  contrasts  of  this  meeting  of  the  Jesuit  and  the  Puritan 
are  some  of  the  most  striking  in  our  colonial  history.  With 
kindred  aims,  they  leaned  far  from  each  other  in  their  repre- 
sentative methods.  It  was  the  kind  of  opposition  which  Doyle 
describes  in  his  Puritcm   Colonies.     "The  French  missionary 


lil 


11,1 


^:f 


174 


CANADA,  iaj5-10(jS. 


well-nigh  broke  with  civili/ation  ;  he  toned  down  all  that  was 
spiritual  in  his  religion  and  cniphasizod  all  that  w  as  sensual,  till 
he  had  assimilated  it  to  the  wants  of  the  savage.  The  better 
and  worse  features  of  Puritanism  forbade  a  triumph  won  on 
such  terms."  When,  just  before  this  (1049),  Parliament  had 
established  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
New  England,"  the  new  organization  expected  to  act  largely 
through  the  federal  commissioners  of  the  colonies,  for  the  min- 
isters and  magistrates  were  one  in  their  life.  The  story  of  civil 
and  religious  exertion  in  New  France  is  largely  one  of  variance. 


His  obser- 
vations. 


Druillettes  on  his  part  was  struck  i)oth  in  his  intercourse  at 
Boston  and  I'ly  mo  nth  — where  Governor  Bradford  on 
a  Friday  gave  him  a  dinner  of  fish  —  with  the  thrift 
of  the  New  England  character.      lie  marked  their  numbers, 
which   in  contrast  with  Canada  seemed  prodigious  to  him,  and 
saw  how  their  population  was  now  increasing  by  nature  and 
not  by  immigration.      He  found  such  a  people  an  instructive 
contrast  to  the  thin  settlements  at  a  few  points  along  the  St. 
Lawrence.      "The  zeal  of  propagandism,"  says  Parkman,  in 
commenting  upon  this  observation  of  the  Jesuit,  "  and  the  fur 
trade  were  the  vital  forces  of  New  France.     Of  her  feeble  pop- 
ulation, the  best  part  was  bound  to  perpetual  chastity,  while 
the  fur  traders  and  those  in  their  service;  rarely  brought  their 
wives  to  the  wilderness.     The  fur  trader,  moreover,  is  always 
the  worst  of  colonists,  since  the  increase  of  population,  by  dimin- 
ishing the  number  of  the  fur-bearing  animals,  is  adverse  to  his 
HiRmissiou    interests."    Drulllettes's  mission,  however,  failed.    The 
commissioners   of  the  united  New  England  colonies, 
to  whom  the  appeal  ultimately  went,  considered  it  bad  policy 
to  divert  the  Mohawk  from  his  northern  path,  and  to  expose 
their  own  frontiers  to  his  ferocity. 

Not  only  had  the  Huron  villages  been  destroved,  but  the  Iro- 
quois had  depopulated  the  Indian  country  all  along  the  water- 
way from  Montreal  to  Georgian  Bay.  They  had  rendered 
passage  so  unsafe  between  the  rapids  above  Montreal  and  Ta- 
iroquoia  doussac  that  the  fur-trade  stations  from  Three  Rivers 
""^'•^  to  the  Saguenay  were  in  effect  abolished.     The  Iro- 

quois had  pushed  with  more  audacity  than  ever  up  the  gloomy 
channel  of  the  Saguenay,  and  had  driven  the  upper  Montagnais 


IROQUOIS  MISSIONS.  I75 

back  ♦  ulson's  ]iiiy.  Everywhere  nortli  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  (  uio,  Algonquin  and  French  alike  shuddered  a(  the 
n:  ,  .t  the  confederates.  The  missionaries  had  withdrawn 
trc  tlieu  outposts,  and  th.  told  in  the  settlements  of  the 
hor  ^ble  sufterings  v  'uch  t^.u-  br  'i..rs  had  undergone  at  the 
lroi|uois  stake. 

When  commerce  and  ti  .n.  ,.onary  spirit  was  at  this  low 
ebls  and  the  fugitive  French  from  exposed  positions  had 
thronged  uUo  t'  settlements,  an  Iroquois  embassy  appeared 
with  a  prr  posit.  for  peace.  They  further  offered  an  invita- 
tion  to  the  inactive  missionaries  once  more  to  set  up  the  cross 
m  the  villages  of  the  confederates.  This  unexpected  step  had 
not  been  taken  without  some  motive.  The  Ilurons  whom  the 
Iroquois  had  adopted  had  brought  among  them  a  faith  drawn 
from  Christian  teaching,  wl  adversity  had  not  wholly  oblit- 
erated. Such  sharers  of  thi.  belief  had  in  some  de-ree  ac- 
customed the  proud  Iroquois  to  the  emotions  which  they  had 
never  succeeded  in  subduing  by  torture,  a,  1  the  constancy  of 
the  missionary  had  become  to  their  savage  mind  a  virtue,  worth 
acquiring  even  from  a  foe. 

There  was  another  more  prudent  impulse.  The  Iroquois  had 
now  turned  their  warring  energies  against  the  Fries  and  Sus- 
quehannas,  so  that  they  could  no  longer  be  the  middlemen  of 
those  tribes  in  furnishing  furs  to  the  Dutch  at  Albany.  They 
were  thus  cut  off  from  the  profits  of  such  a  commerce.  Their 
only  compensation  lay  in  restoring  such  a  trade  with  their 
northern  neighbors  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  beyond. 

The  peace  gave  an  opportunity,  heretofore  denied,  for  a  recon- 
naissance of  the  southern  shores  of  Ontario.     Father  I»oncet 
who  had  been  one  of  the  first  of  the  missionaries  to  answer  the 
apjieal  of  the  Iroquois,  returning  (1G53)  in  the  in-  p 
eleinent  season  from  the  Mohawk  villages,  passed  by   i^^a."' 
trail  along  the  lake  shore  and  then  descended  the  river  to  Mon 
treal,  — the  first  of  white  men  it  is  thought  to  view  the  Thou- 
sand Islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence.    The  next  year  (July,  1654) 
J^atlier  Simon  Le  Moyne  entered  for  the  first  time  ^^.^    ,^  ' 
the  Oswego  River,  and  passed  thus  into  the  heart  of  ^^°y''«  ^ 
the  Iroquois  country.      During  Le  Moyne's  sojourn   ^"°"-'"" 
among  these  savages,  he  found  a  Christian's  delight -as  the 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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CANADA,  1G35-1G63. 


I 


term  was  understood  —  in  urging  the  Iroquois  to  further  dar- 
ing against  the  Eries.  In  Sei^teniber,  he  was  back  in  Mon- 
treal,  and  found  his  warring  iiniiulse  api)roved,  in  the  belief 
tliat  such  diplomacy  would  keep  the  confederates  to  their  pact 
with  the  French. 

Iroquois  constancy  was  hardly  of  such  stable  quality,  and  the 
Mohawks,  who  had  kept  aloof  from  the  final  agreement,  felt 
thomselves  as  free  as  ever  to  fall  as  they  could  on  anything 
human  along  the  borders  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Faith  and  con- 
fidence could  not  long  subsist  under  such  a  fast-and-loose  policy. 
iciic.  Mo-  I^  1056,  the  Mohawks,  jealous  of  a  movement  by  the 
u^Atxm'  Onondagas  to  receive  a  French  colony,  intercepted  its 
French.  pioneers  on  their  way  thither.  They  feigned  regret 
after  they  had  done  their  mischief,  and  then  went  skulking 
down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  fall  unsuspected  upon  the  poor 
Ilurons,  who  were  clustered  at  the  Island  of  Orleans,  in  fancied 
security.  The  same  vagabonds  plundered  some  outlying  houses 
of  the  French,  near  the  rock  of  Quebec. 

During  the  few  years  of  the  Jesuits'  missions  in  New  York, 
the  priests  had  not  failed  to  notice  the  departure  of  Iroquois 
Tales  of  the  bands  towards  the  southwest.  They  learned  that  this 
southwest.  ^Q^^g  ^Q^jj  ^j^gjj.  warriors  to  the  affluents  of  a  stream 
which  emptied  finally  into  that  great  river  of  the  west  so  often 
magnified  in  the  Indian  speech.  It  led,  as  they  told  the  mis- 
sionaries, to  a  region  where  other  white  people  lived,  who  said 
prayers  like  the  black-robes,  and  called  their  flocks  to  mass  by 
a  bell.  Did  this  mean  the  Spaniards  of  that  indefinite  region 
which  was  called  Florida,  and  skirted  the  Mexican  Gulf,  or  that 
other  region  known  to  other  brothers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
along  the  Gulf  of  California  ?  It  was  the  great  geographical 
problem  of  the  vast  interior  of  Noi-th  America  ~ 

The  Dutch  dominie,  Megapolensis,  tells  us  that  the  Jesuit 
Le  Moyne  had,  in  his  wandering  among  the  missions,  found  a 
Oil  springs.  ^P^^^S  where  oil  fiowed  on  the  water.  Tills  has  been 
supposed  to  refer  to  the  modern  Oil  Creek,  a  tributary 
of  the  Alleghany  River.  This,  if  true,  establishes  the  fact  that 
the  Jesuit  had  at  this  date  passed  the  divide,  and  had  roached 
a  part  of  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

This  brief   occupancy  of  tlie  Iroquois  field  by  the  Jesuits 


^■pv 

I    ■. 

^Hffin'''] 

fv     "■ 

^■HSf! 

li         ■; 

PRIEST  AND   TRADER. 


177 


served  to  make  \i  apparent  that  these  confederates  held  in  their 
country  one  of  the  most  striking  geographical  vantage-grounds 
on  the  continent.  The  northern  incline  of  their  ter- 
ritory swept  its  waters  into  the  broad  basin  of  the  St.  ^mitog^of*' 
Lawrence  and  the  lakes.  Eastward,  the  Mohawk  could  ^" '  ^'°^"°"- 
bear  their  canoes  to  the  Hudson  and  the  Atlantic.  Southward, 
the  sources  of  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rippled  onward 
to  the  great  i\ays  that  indented  the  coast  at  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia.  To  the  southwest  lay  the  channels  that  fed  the  Ohio 
and  the  vaster  stream  which  gathered  its  waters  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  beyond  Lake  Superior,  and  glided  on  to  the 
Mexican  Gulf. 


This  enormous  reach  of  diverging  waterways  did  much  to 
give  the  Iroquois  their  dominance  as  a  confederation ;  and  it 
was  thus  perceived  by  the  French.     When  later  the 
Jesuits  were  driven  out  of  the  country,  this  geographic  bj'thr*"*"^ 
conception  was  well  understood  by  Talon,  the  most  *'^'"'''' 
enterprising  and  ambitious  leader  which  the  French  in  America 
ever  knew.     But  the  time  was  not  come  for  the  exploration 
westward  along  these  tributaries  of  the  Ohio. 

It  was  mainly  the  priest  who  had  thus  far  watched  the  west- 
ering paths  from  the  Iroquois  haunts.  It  was  the  trader  who  was 
to  lead  by  the  more  northern  routes.  "  Not  a  cape  was  turned," 
says  Bancroft,  in  speaking  of  these  western  adventures,  "  nor'a 
river  entered,  but  a  Jesuit  led  the  way."  The  rhetoric  is  too 
sweeping.  It  was  not  always  the  Jef  Jt  when  a 
priest,  and  oftener  than  not,  the  trader  rather  than  Ser^"^ 
the  priest.  What  gold  was  at  the  south  among  the  ^"""'"" 
Spaniards,  beaver-skins  were  at  the  north  among  the  Fre-  h. 
The  Canadian  f/cntilhomme  devoted  himself  to  the  venturesome 
pursuit  for  furs,  and  became  a  roving  bushranger,  followed  by 
men  with  packs.  The  priest  sought  the  trader's  escort,  and  fol- 
lowed as  occasion  provided  him  a  seat  in  the  canoe.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  man  with  a  pack  and  the  man  in  a  cassock  were 
rivals  in  the  advance,  and  followed  the  same  trail ;  but  oftener 
the  trader  was  ahead.  Most  of  the  Catholic  writers  are  fond  of 
claiming  this  pioneer  work  for  the  missionaries ;  but  the  Abbe 
Ferland  is  better  informed  when  he  allows  that  it  was  oftenest 
the  wood-ranger  who  opened  the  track  for  the  i)riest. 


i 

lis 


ill 


m/f 


178 


CANADA,   1G3S-16G3. 


The  dispersion  of  the  Hurons  affected  both  the  priest  and  the 
trader.  That  portion  of  this  afflicted  people  which  had  gone 
west  sought  the  islands  of  Green  Bay,  but  only  to  be  Thenurou. 
pushed  farther  by  their  pursuers.  They  went  on  till  ^"nde"'""' 
they  reached  the  lowas  of  the  plains.  Here,  in  the  open  coun- 
try,  they  longed  for  the  forest,  and  turned  north  to  the  region 
of  the  Sioux.  Provoking  the  enmity  of  that  tribe,  they  tuSied 
again  south,  and  found  temporary  respite  on  an  island  in  the 
Mississippi,  below  Lake  Pepin.  Passed  by  their  dispersion 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  priest,  the  missionaries  sought   the 


VISSOHER,   1C52. 

distant  west  to  find  others  to  convert.  The  old  country  of  the 
Hurons  stripped  of  its  population,  the  trader  also  sought  the 
more  distant  west,  to  open  his  trade  with  other  peoples. 

But  before  following  new  adventurers  to  the  west,  let  us  look 
1G58.  D'Ar-  ^*  affairs  as  they  were  going  on  in  the  settlements. 
gen^son,gov.  A  new  govcmor,  the  Vicomte  d'Argenson,  had  arrived 
in  1658  to  enter  upon  a  difficult  task.  He  found  the 
Iroquois  again  on  the  alert,  and  he  had  scarce  a  hundred  men  to 
bear  arms  against  them.  He  found  the  priestly  orders  which 
ruled  at  Montreal  and  Quebec  by  no  means  at  peace  with  each 


LAVAL.  179 

Other.     There  had  been  a  struggle  between  the  Siilpitians  and 
Jesuits  to  secure  a  partisan  bishop,  and  the  Jjsuits  had  been 
the  most  influential  with  the  Pope.     Laval,  the  titular  bishop 
of  Petraea,  arrived  in  June,  1659,  to  assume  the  chief  ^avai  ar 
ecclesiastical  power  in  Canada.     He  entered  upon  his  '■'*^"'  '*''^''- 


duties  in  a  militant  spirit,  and  the  civil  rule  did  not  wait  long 
to  feel  the  severity  of  his  power. 

The  country  which  Laval  would  lay  at  his  feet  if  he  could 
was  liardly  comprehended  by  Europe,  except  in  France,  and  not 
everywhere  there.     Under  the  influence  of  the  lielations  which 


n 


pf^^^^^^ppm 


>  Mteifci^*»ft„jii«,«ife,  J, 


hi  i ' 


^®^  '  CANADA,   1635-1663. 

the  Jesuits  had  annually  printed  in  Paris,  the  royal  cartographer 
MapBofNew  ^^^^  improved  upon  the  geograpliy  as  Champlain  had 
f(l5"!r:t'o.  ^^^*^  ^*-  Sanson,  who  had  been  for  nearly  ten  years 
the  official  geographer  of  France,  embodied  in  his 
American  map  of  1656  all  the  material  which  he  could  com- 
mand.  IIis  configuration  of  the  lower  lakes  had  entirely  su- 
perseded  the   drafts   of  Champlain ;  but  he  had  not  ventured 

SS3 


HEYLYN'S  COSMOGRAPHIE,   lcn6-G2, 

upon  more  than  a  vague  extension  of  those  waters  fartlier  to 
the  west,  leaving  ihese  parts  to  be  improved  in  his  later  revi- 
sanson,  sions,  teu  years  afterwards.  The  Gottfried  map  of 
1655  showed  how  great  an  advance  Sanson's  better 
knowledge  could  accomplish  in  165G ;  but  such  promi- 


(lOttfiied, 

Bheu, 

CreUxius. 


CARTOGRAPHY. 


181 


nent  cartographers  among  Sansons  contemporaries  as  the 
Enghshman,  Heylyn,  and  Blaeu  and  Visscher  of  the  Low  Conn- 
tries  and  Germany,  were  apparently  ignorant  of  what  even" 
Champ  am  had  done.     Blaeu  for  some  years  continued  to  make 

Lawrence.  When  Creuxius  summarized  the  narratives  of  the 
Jesuits  and  made  a  map  to  accompany  his  Ilistoire  d„  C, 
nada.  he  found  that  Sanson  had  in  1  main  donl  rwo:kt 
him.  He  still  left  Michigan  and  Superior  incomplete.  He 
was  late  enough  (1660-1GG4)  to  have  made  something  out  o? 
the  stones  of  the  Ohio,  which  Le  Moyne  had  brought  from  the 


VISSCnKR,    ICBO  (?). 

Iroquois  country,  but  he  passed  them  all  by.  He  even  failed 
to  recognize  the  divide  which  those  who  passed  to  Huron  by 
the  Ottawa  route  had  made  so  well  known.  These  were  small 
faults  compared  with  the  entire  absence  of  every  development 
since  C  hamplain,  which  Du  Val  in  the  same  year  rep- 
resented  in  his  map.  This  contemporary  cartographer  °"^^- 
shows  how  slowly  tlH>  map-makers  of  Europe  moved  forward 
to  a  conception  of  this  great  northern  valley. 

The  time  had  come  to  carry  still  farther  the  western  veroo  of 
the  map,  as  Sanson  and  Creuxius  had  left  it. 


't  i| 


111 '' 


111 


:l 


li 


t     ; 


:  )■  ^  I 


182 


CANADA,  1G35-1GG3. 


Medartl  Chouart,  Sieiir  dea  GrosseilHers,  had  come  as  a  lad 

OroMeiiiierg.  ***  Canada,  and  his  young  manhood  was  passed    in 

learning  woodcraft  as  a  trader  at  Lake  Huron.     As 

early  as  1645,  he  seems  to  have  dreamed  that  a  route  from  the 

Great  Lakes  to  Hudson  Bay  could  be  found.    By  1653,  he  had 


married  and  settled  down  among  the  voyageurs  who  con"-re- 
Radmaon.  ^^^^^^  ^}'  Three  Rivers.  Here,  two  years  earlier,  Pierre 
d'Esprit,  the  Sieur  Radisson,  had  arrived,  a  lad 
when  GrosseilHers  had  reached  man's  estate.  In  one  of  Ra- 
disson's  expeditions  the  Iroquois  had  captured  him,  and  had 


LAKE  SUPERIOR. 


183 


o  congre- 

i 
•1 

er,  Pierre 

I 

[,    a    lad 

e  of  Ra- 

aud  had 

camafon  says  that  the  reports  had  eome  fron,  distant  ■«"• 

reported  it,   twenty  years  before.      We  read  \n  fl,«  storiesof » 
a.to,-on„£  1054  that  it  was  only  nItCto"  '-" 

fZ'S,i„:     """"  ''^^  '°  "'^  '"''  *^  -"-'-  A.eri.a 
We  know  that  in  August,  1054,  two  French   traders  w.nt 
west  and  penetrated  the  eonutry  hoyoud  Lake  Mi" 
.gan  a„,u„  August,  1050,  they  led  haek  an  Ojibway   '""■ 
flotdla  w,tli  a  burden  of  furs,  and  reached  Quebef      It  has 

W  Z"         ?"""'''"•     ^^"'^^  ''''  were^ttaekecf  on  tl  e  way 
by  I  oquois;  Garreau  was  killed,  and  the  expedition  failed       ^ 

13  canned,  some  Enghshmen  pushed  west    from  the 
headwaters   of   the    James    River  in  Viro-j"?        I  ^''^^^^ 
passed  the  mountams.     Tlie  story  is   told  in  Coxe's  ^^^'^'^"'°"- 

No  .tisfaetory  'e„u«r  Jlf  ^r ^  :—  ^X 

with  some  of  the  Sionx- nnrl  hnA  i       j        '  ^'"^tn  m  LakeSupe- 
rivpr      TT  ^'ouxancl  had  heard  of  the  great  '""•.  1';58-5d. 

P  f  fySr^^'ne^— --^  -  "» 

planned,  and  the  two  startPfl  nnno  .,  ^^"^  ^ew 

two  starteu  once  more  with  an  es-  expedition. 


W 


m 


1.;  il ; 


r^ 


PA  (I  IIIIIIIIIWPI 

ran 


N^. 


mi 


, 


184 


CANADA,   1G35-16G3. 


cort.  They  were  too  conapicuous  a  band  to  escape  the  Iroquois, 
and  it  was  soon  decided  that  the  savages  coukl  bo  better  eluded 
by  a  smaller  following.  So  with  a  few  Indian  guides  the  two 
traders  pushed  on  together.      The  narrative  of  their  journey 


CREUXIUS, 


enables  us  to  foUow  them  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Su- 
perior, where  the  pictured  rocks  excited  their  wonder.  Eadi*. 
son  records  that  he  was  the  first  Christian  who  had  seen  them. 


LA    POINTS. 


185 


They  went  on  to  La  Pointe,  —  the  modern  Ashland,  —  and  here 
tarried  awhile  for  their  Huron  guides  to  visit  some  kinsmen 
at  the  south,  wliere  we  have  aeen  those  Indian  wanderers  had 
already  been  gathered. 


DATKD   ICCO, 


Where  the  two  Frenchmen  went  after  this  is  in  dispute. 
1  here  are  those  who  have  held  that  they  pushed  directly  south 
trom  Superior,  and  others  have  contended  that  they  returned  by 


I    11 


i 


« 


i  'ij 


tH 


m  r^ 


'"'  -"ffWf-^iMIWIf  'PP! 


w^mmmmiffmm 


i« 


180 


CANADA,  1635-1063. 


the  Saiilt  Ste.  Marie,  and,  passing  tlie  Straits  of  Mackinaw,  went 
up  (ircon  liay  and  took  tlio  routo  by  the  Kox  and  Wisconsin. 
KadisHon  himself  says :  "  We  v/ent  to  the  great  river  wliich 
divides  itself  in  two,  where  the  Ilurons  had  retired.  The  river 
is  called  the  Forked  because  it  has  two  branches,  one  towards 
the  west,  the  other  towards  tlie  south,  which  we  believe  runs 
towards  Mexico."  They  seem  to  have  encountered  a  band  of 
these  fugitive  Ilurons,  who  represented  the  river  which  passed 
AttiieMu-  tlio  island  where  they  lived  to  be  as  large  as  the  St. 
.ii.8i,.i.i.  Lawrence.  If  the  two  traders  reached  tbo  true  Mis- 
8is;^ippi,  as  some  have  conjectured,  they  saw  it  a  dozen  yeare 
before  Joli'it  floated  on  its  waters. 

They  did  not  push  very  far  in  this  direction,  as  it  woidd  ap- 
LakeSupc-  pot"',  but  tumcd  north  and  wandered  about  the  ex- 
""'■  trenie  western  end  of  Lake  Superior,  and  were  thus 

the  <'arliest  to  deflne  its  we&Lern  limits.     Here  they  found  tK,-.ii- 
selvcs  among  the  Sioux,  and  heard  tlieir  strange  tongue. 

Charlevoix  at  a  later  day  intimates  that  in  their  first  contact 
with  the  langjiage  of  this  Daeotah  family,  the  Frencth  had  faii- 
cied  they  i>erceived  a  Chinese  accent.  They  thought  also  that 
they  observed  in  the  customs  of  the  Sioux  something  like  the 
habits  of  the  Tartar?.  Th.n'O  was  a  story  circulating  at  the 
time,  as  a  i)art  of  the  argument  to  prove  the  close  connection  of 
Asia  and  the  Asiatic  people  with  the  more  distant  American 
tribes,  which  the  French  reached.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  a 
Jesuit,  Father  Grelon,  after  having  served  at  a  mission  on  Lake 
Huron,  iiad  later  been  stationed  in  Chinese  Tartary,  where  he 
had  met  a  woman  who  had  belonged  to  his  flock  in  Canada. 
The  theory  was  that  she  had  been  sold  from  tribe  to  tribe,  and 
so  had  jiasscd  on  to  Asia,  which  could  only  have  happened,  as 
was  contended,  by  the  two  continents  .approaching  each  other 
nearly,  somcwh>  re  in  the  north,  or  being  in  fact  one. 

The  result  of  this  intercourse  of  Kadisson  and  Grosseilliera 
icco  At  ^^^''^^  *^^^  Indians  of  this  remote  west  was  that  in  the 
Three  uiv-  summer  of  IGGO  they  led  a  flotilla  of  rixty  Lake  Su- 
perior canoes  back  to  Three  Rivers.  The  crews  of 
the  summer  shi])s  av/aiting  their  cargoes  were  glad  of  the  furs. 
The  voyageurs  lingering  about  the  post  found  much  interest  in 
the  stories  which  were  told  of  these  remoter  tribes,  and  of  their 
strange  torgue. 


GROSSEILLIKltt  AND  lUDlSSON.  187 

A,!:rswiGGoV'lh' ' ""  "'*'*'  "^"'"^  ""*  '^"^^  --•«  - 

^ugust  (IbbO).      Ho   was   accompanu  '   by  several 
Wenehn^on,  ami  gave  encovi  to  an  aged  Jesuit  nns-  i^liLr;'^'* 
sionary,  '{eno  Menard.     The  party  passed  the  winter  wll'*  mT' 
among  some  Ottawas  on  the  southern  hounds  of  L-iko  ""''' 
hnpenor.     These  Indians  did  not  prove  very  tractable  converts, 
an(   the  missionary  determnied  to  seek  a  renu.ant  of  the  Hurons 
to  the  south    whK,h  he  had  heard  of  as  living  somewhere  in 
wha   .s  now  the  State  of  Wisconsin.     Menard  started  with  a 
smgle  servant.     The  route  was  intricate  and  laborious,  by  slu.- 
gi8h  streams,  through  tangled  swamps,  and  it  involved  nuury 
portages.      In  crossing  one  of  them,  the  aged  priest  lost   the 
ta-ail  ot  i.:s  companions,  and  was  never  seen  again.     A  camp 
k.ttle  which  he  carried   with  hiin,  together  with  his  breviary 
aud  easso(,k,  were  la.er  foun.   in  different  places  among  r|ie 
western  tribes.    It  was  never  known  whether  he  died 
by  exposure  or  was  killed  by  wandering  sava"-es.     If  ""°'"'"- 
Perrot  can  be  correctly  interpreted,  Menard  "and  his  compan- 
ions had  already  got  a  sight  of  the  great  river. 

We  learn  from  Boucher  that  all  of   the  party  who  accom- 
panied Grosseilhers   in    IGGO  to  the  wilderness,  and  „,„,,.„ 
who  were  stul  alive,  returned  in  the  summer  of  1GG3  "'^™''' party 
to  the  settlements,  with  new  conceptions  of  the  geo"--  '^*»"'"' 
raphy  of  that  remote  region.  * 

It  was  in  IGGO  that  the  earliest  census  of  Canada  was  made 
and  this  shows  a  total  of  3,418  souls,  and  an  appreciable  part 
ot  this  number  had  been  born  on  the  soil.     The  inhabitants 
at  Aew  England,  at  the  same  time,  numbered  not  far  from 
eighty  thousand.      The  Indian  element  was  not   included   in 
either  calculation;   and  in  Canada,  taking  the   valley  below 
Lalce  Huron,  the  savages  had  never  before  borne  so  small  a. 
proportion  to  those  of  European  origin.     The  statement  may 
possibly  be  exaggerated  that  neither  along  the  Ottawa  route, 
nor  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Huron,  was  there  an  Indian  to  be 
found ;  but  it  is  certain  that  there  could  be  but  few.    "  To  such 
an  extent,"  says  Father  Jocker,  "  the  daring  and  resoluteness 
of  a  few  thousand   savages  had  prevailed    over  an  i,   ..^j^ 
enemy  more  than  ten-fold  their  own  numbers  and  not  pr~' 
wanting  in  warlike  qualities,  but  incapable  of  combined  action 


r 


I 


188 


CANADA,  1635-1663. 


and  destitute  of  able  leaders."  This  had  been  accomplished  by 
a  body  of  Iroquois,  reduced  at  thip  time  to  scarcely  more  than 
twelve  hundred  warriors,  with  perhaps  a  thousand  savage  asso- 
ciates, made  by  adoption  their  helpers  and  dependents.  Even 
such  a  depletion  of  their  numbers  did  net  prevent  their  still  in- 
vesting the  vicinity  of  Montreal,  and  even  Quebec,  with  their 
prowlers,  so  that  for  the  denizens  of  those  posts  to  venture  be- 
yond support  was  to  invite  destruction.  Fathers  Dablon  and 
Druillettes,  ascending  the  Saguenay  to  its  sources  in  1660,  found 
that  beyond  the  Lake  of  St.  John  and  along  the  shores  of  Mis- 
tassin,  the  Montaguais  crouched  iu  fear  of  the  Iroquois. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


REORGANIZED    CANADA. 

1663-1672. 

Meanwhile,  a  political  change  had  come  over  Canada. 
Mazann  had  died  in  1661,  and  Colbert,  then  a  man  ,  ,^ , 
somewhat  over  forty,  had  been  made  comptroUer  of  ^^^ 
finance  and  minister  of  marine.  He  was  a  forceful  character. 
He  brought  administrative  clearness  and  pluck  to  bear  on 
industrial  and  commercial  problems.  New  France  was  soon  to 
feel  the  influence  of  a  controlling  spirit  in  old  France. 

•    l^^^'r^""  ""^^  ^*'^*^'®'"'  ^^^^"  ^"bois  d'Avaugour,  had 
arrived  at  Quebec  as  governor.      He  was  a  brisk  ^„ 
administrator,  of  unceremonious  habits.     He  was  not  80^3"' 
the  man  to  stand  in  awe  of  Laval,  and  the  two  held  adverse 
views  as  respects  the  propriety  of  selling  liquor  to  hu  contest 
the  Indians.     A  struggle  was  the  consequence.     The  '^''''"I'avaL 
ecclesiastic  sought  to  coerce  the  governor  by  the  terrors  of  ex- 
communication,  but  the  soldier  was  not  alarmed.     So  Laval 
went  to  Paris  and  succeeded  in  getting  D'Avaugour  recalled. 
1  he  bieur  de  M^zy  was  appointed  in  his  place,  —  a  man 
destined  in  turn  to  become  Laval's  tormentor.     The  mV'o.. 
ecclesiastic  and  his   civil   associate   reached   Quebec  '™°'' ^«^- 
September  15,  1663,  and  on  the  18th  the  governor  carried  out 
tlie  churchman's  policy  by  an  edict  against  the  liquor  traffic, 
liie  Jesuits  had  righteously  triumphed. 

D'Avaugour  had  in  his  short  term  of  service  risen  to  a  hio-h 
conception  of  what  Canada  under  fitting  patronage  might  be- 
come.  Such  a  portal  as  the  St.  Lawrence,  he  said  to  Colbert, 
belonged  to  the  -randest  empire  of  the  worid.  He  urged  the 
minister  to  send  out  soldiers.  They  could  build  forts,  root  out 
the  Iroquois,  he  said,  and  then  be  turned  into  colonists.  Though 
aliundred  families  -  counting  five  hundred  souls— were  for- 
warded by  the  king,  with  the  view  of  maintaining  them  a  year. 


'  ifl 


190 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,   1663-1672. 


it  was  yet  some  years  before  the  necessary  military  force  to  put 
the  colony  in  security  coiild  be  spared  from  France. 

Just  at  this  time  (1663),  the  great  change  in  the  administra- 
1663.  The     tive  coutrol  of  the  country  took  place.     The  Hundred 
Ki'atM     Associates  abandoned  their  charter,  and  (February  24) 
New  France  was  restored  to  the  crown.     In  April  the 


abandon 

th«ir 

charter. 


king  created  a  sovereign   council  to  administer   the 


COLBERT. 

[From  Suite's  Cdixidiens-Frmi^dh,  vol.  iii.] 

government  of  the  new  royal  province.  Quebec,  which  was 
made  the  capital,  was  then  a  town  of  800  peoi)le,  out  of  the 
2500  which  con.stitutcd  the  population  of  the  colony. 

But  a  more  comprehensive  plan  was  ripening,  under  Colbert's 
instigation,  and  on  May  24,  1004,  the  monarch  instituted  the 
great  Company  of  the  West,  to  govern  "  for  the  glory  of  God 


THACV,   COURCEL^ES,  AND   TALON.  191 

and  the  honor  of  the  French  king"  the  vast  range  of  lands  in 
Amenca,  to  which  the  king  laid  claim.  This  extent  in- 
eluded  in  North  America  all  New  France  from  Hud-  Sof^r 
son  s  Bay  to  Virginia  and  Florida,  embracing  the  ''"" 
spaces  back  of  the  AUeghanies  preempted  in  the  English  char- 
ters, and  throughout  which  the  new  company  was  to  xLeive  the 
monopoly  of  trade  for  forty  years.     It  was  not  long  befole  the 

S'Tn  "-^--^^  ^^^  -ntry  was  not^orth  ^Z 
taming  m  the  face  of  such  a  monopoly  of  its  commerce  Thp 
company,  to  quiet  the  discontent,  made  concession  of  the'  trade 

of  the  W'  "  '  '"'  "'"""^  *^^*  "^  *^^  1--^  P-ts 

To  exercise  the  general  control  over  all  his  American  posses- 
sions, the  king  dispatched  Alexander  de   Prouville 
Marquis  de  Tracy,  to  be  lieutenant-general  over  that  ""^-y- 

control  r^"  r'""f  ^^  ^^""•^"     ^^^  '^'  --^  ™--l-te 
control  of  New  France  he  created  Daniel  de  Remy, 

bieur  de  Courcelles,  governor,  and  made  Jean  Baptiste  ^^ues 
Talon  mtendant.  This  last  office  made  an  associate  ^ZZ^' 
ruler  sharein  some  respects  the  governor's  responsi-  '"'""""• 
bility,  and  in  others  hold  him  in  check 

thew!rtSr™"rw/'c'v^""^'^'^^^     -  ---*  ^y 

qo  1     1      r    1   '  ''^?^''^  ^^^  ^*-  I^'-^^^rence,  and  on  June 

^0  he  landed  beneath  the  rock  of  Quebec.    He  was  now  ''^• 

a  man  of  sixty-two.     He  brought  with  him  some  of  the  troops 

w  uch  D  Avaugour  had  pleaded  for,  a  few  companies  o    I 

Carignan-Salu5i.es  regiment,  and  these  were   joined   I  y  other 

j'ompanies  shortly  afterwards.     A  final  quota  iame  inllni 

her  in  the   rain  of  Courcelles  and  Talon.    Beside  these  vet    "ns 

tZ  ofttfUTf  ^'T  ''^1  ''''  ''"''''^'y  accessions^    h 
colony  of  late  had  been  large,  for  at  leas,  two  thousand  persons 

had  come  over  at  the  royal  charge.  It  seemed  as  ifTne  v 
h  iXl  .  was  111  store  for  the  colony.  With  a  force  of  twelvl 
hind  led  veterans  here  was  a  chance  that  the  frontiers  towards 
the  Iroquois  could  be  defended.  Within  three  weeks  Tracv 
began  the  erection  of  forts  on  the  Richelieu,  and  liter  Lfol^ 
fid  an  island  in  Lake  Champlain,  where  Fort  St.  Anne  be  ame 
tlie  base  in  tnne  of  still  other  forward  movements. 

who  tfcolW  ?  T  *'  ^""  """  ''""  ''''  ^"^-^^-*  Talon, 
Who  had  Colbert  for  his  supporter,  and  his  abilities  as  an  ener' 


i! 


ir'mWHKWM 


<MPP«MP|MIWWMV>«9«II 


192 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,  1663-1672. 


ill 


LAKE  ST.  PIERRE  AND  THE  SOREL  RIVER,  ICGG. 
[After  Suite's  CanadienS'Fran';ais,  vU.] 


WESTERN  DISCOVERY. 


193 


getic  reformer  soon  showed  that  he  could,  in  some  ways,  overtop 
the   vice-regal  power  of  the  governor.     In  fforjreous 
state,  Courcelles  was  supreme ;   he  outranked  the  in-  -"'^-^"n': 
tendant  as  a  military  leader,  and  was  vested  with  powers  to  treat 

the   mtendant  was  clothed  with  a  power  which  grew  stronJ 

Canada  had  never  before  known  so  alert  an  eye.  Everywhere 
the  people  were  thrilled  by  the  intendant's  energy.  X  one 
h^  had,  m  this  wilderness,  such  an  ambition  for^France,  and 

T«l  r\lr  ™"'*  ^°  ^^^''^'"^  '"^^  ««"ld  «arry  them, 
lalon  hoped  that  immigration  would  foUow  the  symbol,  and 

^v?n  r  ll!'  rr°?  '''  ^'  "'"'  ^"  ^'  P"^P-««  further  than 
even  Colbert  dared  to  go,  and  the  home  minister  was  forced 

to  intimate  to  his  agent  that  France  could  not  be  drained 
ot  Its  Me-blood  to  furnish  settlers  for  the  St.  Lawronce.  The 
J^nghsh  had  just  captured  New  Amsterdam,  and  Talon  fancied 
that  French  gold  would  tempt  them  to  sell  it.  There  was  some- 
thing  to  the  English  more  alluring  than  French  gold,  and  that 
was  an  alliance  with  the  Iroquois,  and  they  succeeded  easily  to 
this  inheritance  from  the  Dutch. 

The  vantage-ground  which  Nicolet  had  secured  at  the  west 
was  never  fairly  appreciated  till  Talon  became   intendant  of 
Canada.     He  now  entered  upon  the  task  of  proving  that  ex- 
plorer  s  prevision  to  be  worth  confirming.     The  intend- 
ant  showed  that  he  had  a  wonderful  faculty  of  making  w^el^er*' 
others  work  for  him,  and  support  themselves  while  '^'"'°'"^- 
doing  it,  and  he  manifested  this  in  nothing  more  than  in  his 
prosecution  of  western  discovery.  Margry  prints  various  extracts 
trom  lalon  s  letters,  showing  his  determination  to  make  French 
rule  pervade  the  great  interior  of  the  continent,  and  we  know 
that  the  bpaniards  manifested  not  a  little  jealousy  at  Talon's 
projects.     They  knew  that  he  intended  to  awe   them  at  the 
south,  if  only  he  could  find  a  continental  stream  flowing  to  the 
Ixnlf  of  Mexico,  with  a  convenient  strategical  point  near  its 
debouchemeut  where  he  could  build  a  fort. 

Talon  in  due  time  impressed  upon  the  king  the  necessity  of 
establishing  posts  towards  the  south  by  which  the  rivals  of 


:i| 


m 


i 


194 


REORGANIZED   CANADA^  1GG3-1G72. 


li'  i 


WJ 


France  could  be  kept  from  working  westward.     A  renegade 
Frenchman,  one  Louis  de  Page,  was  at  the  sanie  time  striving 
to  make  the  English  king  occupy  in  force  the  Isle  a  Coudres, 
just  below  Quebec,  so  as  to  prevent  succor  of  the  upper  country 
by  a  French  armament,  while  an  English  force  raided  the  lakes 
and  secured  the  country  lying  towards  the  Mississippi.     Talon 
held  that  somewhere  in  Ontario  a  fortified  station  was  necessary 
as  the   base   of  an  advance  towards  Florida.     The  governor 
entered  into  the   spirit  of  Talon's  purpose,  and  undertook  in 
ifiofi,  Jan.        January,  1666,  an  armed  reconnoissance  of  the  Mo- 
va.iertile  Mo-  Ji'T'Wk  country,  for  this  tribe  seemed  little  disposed  to 
hawkcountry.  ^Q^^Q^.^  ^lic  p.'ace  wliich  the  other  confederated  tribes 
had  made  with  the  French.     Courcelles's  force  increased  as  he 
passed  Three  Kivers,  and  he  commanded  not  far  from  five  hun- 
dred men  when  he  reached  Fort  Thdrese,  well  up  the  Richelieu. 
He  lacked  efficient  guides,  however,  and  led  his  force  too  far  to 
the  east,  so  that  on  February  20  he  found  himself  at  Schenec- 
tady.    Here  he  learned  that  the  Dutch  rule  on  the  Hudson  had 
given  place  to  the  English.     This,  and  the  time  which  his  mis- 
take had  given  to  the  Mohawks  for  preparation  to  receive  him, 
as  well  as  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  rendered  it  prudent  for 
him  to  retrace  his  steps,  and  his  baffled  force  turned  to  the  north. 
The  Mohawks'  escape  from  what  might  have  been  a  heavy 
chastisement  hardly  conduced  to  incline  them  to  peace,  while 
the  increased  power  which  the  Fj-ench  had  shewn  convinced 
them  that  it  was  not  to  be  so  easy  in  the  future  as  in  the  past 
to  deliver  a  rapid  blow  on  the  St.  Lawrence  and  then  retreat. 
So  not   one  of  the    uncertain  offers  of  peace   which  the   Mo- 
hawks  made  were   as   assuring  as    was   expected,  and   Tracy 
resolved  to  deal  a  blow  himself,  before  the  season  was  over. 
In  October  he  was  on  liis  way  up  Lake  George,  with 
six  hundred  troops,  as  many  Canadians,  and  a  hundred 
Indians.     No  such  force  had  been  seen  in  Canada 
He  fell  upon  the  Mohawk  villages  one  after  another, 
only  to  find  them  deserted.     He  consequently  encountered  not 
the  least  resistance  in  his  devastating  march.     The  dispersion 
of  the  Hurons  was  avenged.     In  the  spring  of  1667,  a 
Mohawk  embassy  came  to  Quebec  suing  for  peace,  and 
there  was  a  respite  from  danger  for  twenty  years  all 
along  the  St.    Lawrence  valley.      When    Tracy   returned   to 


October. 
New  inva- 
sion uuUer 
Tracy. 


befor 


'C. 


lfif.7.     The 
Moliawks 
ank  for 
pe.ice. 


GROSSEILLIERS.  195 

France, -as  he  did  shortly  afterwards,  -  he  could  carry  the 
comforting  assurance  that  he  had  conquered  a  peace.  It  had 
long  been  a  complaint  of  Colbert  that  the  horrors  of  an  Iroquois 
war  sprang  largely  from  the  habit  of  the  settlers  in  pushino- 
their  cabins  too  far  from  support,  in  order  to  meet  the  fu? 
trader  nearer  his  supply.  With  a  peace  assured,  the  remon- 
strance  lost  its  force,  and  the  increase  of  the  colony  for  the 
next  two  years  shows  how  the  field  of  habitation  was  growin- 
constantly  wider.  The  census  which  marked  3  418 
souls  at  the  end  of  the  Iroquois  war  (1G66)  two  years  '''"■  """" 
later  had  run  up  to  5,870. 


8UH. 


The  peace  opened  new  prospects,  and  there  wore  chances 
now  to  solve  the  geographical  doubts  in  every  direction 

We  will  look  first  at  the  one  respecting  tlie  north.     Twenty 
years  before  this,  liagueneau  had  been  questionino-  the  . 
northern  Indians  hanging  about  the  Huron  missions    -■^'>°"'°" 
and  had  learned  that  their  hunters  had  reached  the  North  Sea 
in  their  quest  for  furs,  and  that  it  lay  in  a  straight  line  towards 
he  pole  more  than  three  hundred  leagues  away.     In  October, 
1060,  when  Grosseilliers  and  Radisson  had  followed 
up  a  northern  tributary  of  Lake  Superior  to  Lake  gCS 
^epigon,  one  of  their  party,  named  Pere,  had  dis-  "''''"'• 
covered  bejjnd  the  divide  a  stream,  by  which  it  was  supposed 
they  could  descend  to  Hudson's  Bay. 

At  a  later  day,  Grosseilliers  had  sought  to  test  all  these  coniec 
tnres,  and  during  his  wanderings  it  has  been  asserted,  but  with 
no  definite  proof  that  he  had  actually  reached  James's  Bay,  the 
southern  bend  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  found  that  the  English 
seekmg  a  passage  westward  farther  north,  had  not  vet  been  there.' 
Returning  to  Quebec  with  Radisson,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
opening  of  a  new  trade,  if  he  had  not  discovered  its  exact  chan- 
nel,  Grosseilliers  had  proposed  an  expedition,  by  water,  descend- 
ing the  St.  Lawrence  and  rounding  the  Labrador  coast.     There 
was  not  only  no  response  to  his  enthusiasm  by  the  managers  of 
the  company,  but  he  was  even  fined  for  trading  in  the  north 
withou    a  license.    The  rebuff  was  enough  to  make  him  eager  to 
seek  other  masters,  and  lie  went  to  Boston  to  find  ,      ,, 
them.    Here  he  foil  in  with  a  Captain  Zachary  Gillam    ^^^^^' 
who  was  qmte  ready  to  make  a  hasty  run  in  his  ketch  \o  James's 


11 


« -.'I 


r- 


196 


HEOHGANIZED  CANADA,  lGa,i-lG73. 


V  %  ,  ill 


',' 


Bay,  .111(1  GrosseilHers  went  (1G()4-G5)  witli  him.     They  ac 
coinplislied  little  more  than  to  find  the  way  and  re-  \m-ff,. 
turn   to  Boston.     Here  they  met  Colonel  Carr,  one  ^^,'^^'f' 


(hud SONS  STREIGHT^ 

^ — ' — '     /• — ^  and    ^ — V 

(y. 


and  _ 

^,     "^-""^ ^     ^-~\  J       Baffin 

DAvi  s  Streights,)  f 

r^  *i           Bay 


HUDSON'S  BAY. 


of  the   royal   commissioners  to   receive   Manhattan   from   the 
Dutch,  and  so  impressed  him  with  the  chance  of  a  new  access 


HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY. 


197 


to  the  trade   for  peltries  that  Carr  wrote  about  it  to  Lord 
Arlington.    Carr  undertook  to  secure  for  the  two  Frenchmen  — 
for  Kadisson  was  with  (irosaeilliers  — a  passage  to  England 
and  in  August,  16G5,  they  sailed  from  Boston.    While  ' 

in  Lon.lon,  they  had  the  favor  of  an  interview  with  mklnfm 
Prince  Kupert,  and  this  conspicuous  personage  and  his  v^Za"! 
friends  combined  to  give  the  adventurers  an  outfit  in  limw. 
two  ships,  one  of  which  was  the  "  Nonsuch,"  Captain  ""^' 
(iillam,  with  whom  they  had  sailed  to  the  north  from  Boston 
two  years   before.      It  was  to  the  New  England  capital  that 
the  expedition,  after  a  successful  venture  at  the  north,   re- 
turned, and  we  find  Wait  Winthrop,  in   December 
(1G71),   writing  from  Boston   that  Zachary  Gillam  ^*"^' 
had  come  back  "from  the  northwest  passage  with  abundance 
of  beaver."     Thence  the  ships  sailed  for  England,  where  it  be- 
came known  that  the  explorers  had  built  and  equipped  a  fort 
on  what  they  called  Rupert's  River,  thus  making  a  lodgment  in 
the  country. 

This  was  success  enough  to  give  form  to  that  great  commer- 
cial enterprise  which  had  a  long  history  as  the  Hud-  Hudson  Ba 
son  Bay  Company.      It  was  soon  chartered  by  the  compa"y*^ 
king,  and  we  find  the  aristocratic  names  of  Prince  Rupert  and 
others  among  its  corporators. 

The  future  of  this  monopoly  was  hardly  then  divined  The 
secretary  of  the  Royal  Society,  when  he  heard  of  a  grant  of 
vessels  to  (JrosseiUiers,  wiuce  to  Boyle  just  as  if  a  northwest 
passage  had  already  been  discovered.  There  seems  to  have 
been  no  serious  purpose  in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the 
company  beyond  the  fur  trade  and  its  profits,  and  neither  dis- 
covery nor  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  proved  to  have  that 
share  in  its  interests  which  was  the  pretense  of  its  charter 

In  November,  1670,  word  had  somehow  come  to  Talon  in 
Quebec  that  two  English  vessels  were  in   Hudson's  ^ 
Bay.     The  Montagnais  at  this  time  had  been  pressed  TaionS 
so  hard  by  the  Iroquois  that  they  had  abandoned  the  ««''''"'?""" 
lower^  Saguenay.     So  it  happened  that  hunters  of  the  Mon- 
tagnais had  probably  sought  security  in  the  direction  of  the 
northern  waters.     From  them,  through  the  missionaries,  it  is 
probable  that  the  news  had  reached  Talon.     The  natives  of  this 
bay  region  had  heretofore  traded  with  the  French  through  the 


,  i 


m 


I  i 


If        £ 


»•* 


198 


HEOHGANIZED   CANADA,  1G63-1672. 


intermediate  Ottawas,  and  Tal«jn  was  au::iou8  to  disi)ense  with 
such  nuddlemen.  He  was  quite  sure,  moreover,  that  the  present 
movement  of  the  English  to  divert  that  trade  was  under  the 
instigation  of  Grosseilliers.  The  next  year  (1071),  the  intend- 
icTi.  stiuu  ^"*'  **cnt  Father  Albanel  up  the  Sagucnay  to  oi)en  the 
t1"'buKuol'  ^vay  for  a  French  occupation  by  founding  a  mission 
""y-  near  the   bay.     In  the  following  June  (1072),  that 

priest  pushed  on  from  the  ui)per  waters  of  that  river,  and  by 
,„.,  ,  the  28t]j  he  was  on  the  shores  of  the  bay.  The  coun- 
2«.  AtHu.i-  try  was  now  taken  i)ossession  of  for  the  French  kiiiir, 

Boirs  buy.  ....  ~ 

perhaps  withm  sight  of  vessels  flying  the  English  col- 
ors, for  the  Jesuit  reported  seeing  them.  We  get  son.e  account 
of  this  undertaking  in  Father  Dablon's  Itdation  of  1071-72. 
Talon  at  the  same  time  informed  the  king  that  he  was  consider- 
ing a  proposition  to  send  a  small  bark  to  the  bay  by  water;  but 
he  seems  to  have  bcjcn  no  better  prepared  for  the  task  then  than 
when  Grosseilliers  had  i)roposed  it.  Jt  was  not  long  before  the 
factors  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  heard  of  Albanel's  doings, 
and  the  officers  of  the  company  in  England  were  memorializing 
the  government  in  the  matter  of  encroaclnnents,  and  still  later 
La  Barre  took  his  turn  in  complaining  to  the  miuistiy  in  Paris 
of  English  encroachments. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  tiie  explorations  towards  the  west.     The 
irrr    x-        suuimcr  of  1GG5  had  brought  dowii  to  the  settlements 

IWJO.     Ex-  n       •!!  r  c  t      i 

pioratious  a  flotilla  of  canoes  from  Lake  Superior  for  the  annual 
trade.  In  August,  they  were  to  go  back,  and  under  an 
escort  of  about  four  hundred  of  these  savages,  a  few  Frenchmen, 
including  Father  Allouez,  who  was  sent  to  take  the  place  of  the 
luckless  Menard,  started  on  the  long  return  journey.  On  Sep- 
tember 2,  he  was  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and,  passing  into  the 
great  lake  beyond,  he  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of  Tracy,  "  in 
,„  acknowledgment  of  the  obligations  we  are  under  to 

AllOUPZ  on  ^^ 

Lake  supe-  that  man."  Later  in  the  same  month,  Allouez  was  at 
the  bay  where  the  modern  town  of  Ashland  stands, 
and  on  the  principal  island  near  the  inlet,  which  the  French 
called  La  Pointe,  he  founded  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
with  a  village  of  the  Chippewas  near  by,  and  built  a  bark 
chapel  for  his  altar. 

There  were  about  eight  hundred  warriors  in  the  neighbor- 


'    'i 


MARQUETTE  AND  DABLON.  I99 

hood  made  up  of  wandering  bands  of  the  Algonquin  stock, 
and  tl»o  father  lost  no  time  in  nmking  the  savages  feel  that 
the  new  representative  of  his  .oyal  master  was  determined  to 
pursue  their  old  enemy,  the  lro<p,ois,  until  that  hated  foe  was 
either  exterminated  or  should  succumb.     It  was  in  his  i„ter 
course  with   these  various  tribes  that  the  name  of  the  "jrreat 
water,    of  which  the  savages  had  so  often  spoken,  took  forin 
in  the  phonetic  rendering  of  Allo;iez  as  "  Missipi  "  in 
his   enumeration   of    the   tribes  which  were  said   to  "M^'i.-i."" 
live  along  its  banks.     The  priest  was  inclined  from  what  he 
heard  of  that  stream  to  suppose  that  it  entered  the  Sea  of  Vir- 
ginia, as  the  Chesapeake  and  its  neighboring  oceanic  wat-ra 
were  sometimes  called. 

It  was  during  some  of  his  excursions  hereabouts,  in  which  he 
sought  to  find  the  great  mass  of  native  copper,  often  de-  „. 
scribed,  that  AUouez  fell  in  with  parties  of  the  Sioux  '^r"""" 
(Nadouesiouek).     They  represented  their  country  as  lyinir  to 
the  west  of  Lake  Superior,  forty  or  fifty  leagues  towards  the 
Missipi,    and  as  being  a  prairie  region.     The  savages  seemed 
to  speak  of  their  home  as  the  extremity  of  the  earth,  but  yet 
represented  another  people  to  be  still  farther  west,  while  beyond 
the  latter  lay  the  great  fetid  ocean.     To  the  north  of  them  were 
other  tribes,  with  some  thai  eat  meat  raw  beyond;  and  stiU 
farther  was  the  North  Sea,  bordering  a  country  which  confined 
the  water-shed  of  Hudson's  Bay. 

These  descriptions  were  in  due  time  to  find  their  way  to  the 
public  in  the  Jesuit  lidations,  and  the  geographers  recognized 
m  them  a  decided  progress  in  the  development  of  this  great 
Western  Mystery. 

^  In  1668,  Marquette  had  founded  a  mission  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Sault  Stc.  Marie,  the  earliest  in  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Michigan.     Here  he  was  soon  joined  Kueite 
byDablon,  ard  in  September,  1669,  Marquette  was  '^'^  ""''"»'• 
sent  to  La  Pointe  to  take  the  place  of  AUouez,  who  had  other 
work  to  do. 

There  had  been  for  some  time  among  the  tribes  on  +>  ->  Fox 
Eiver,  near  the  head  of  Green  Bay,  a  few  young  .,  ivj,.n 
seeking  trade,  and  yielding  to  their  unbridled  passiu..  ^ey 

were  of  a  class  now  beginning  to  be  felt,  which  has  cour  arede 
passed  into  history  as  the  (7oMm«'s  de  6ois,— alaw-  •'°^«-"''"  " 


i    iP»" 


200 


REORGANIZED   'IAN AD  A,   inC,S-tG72. 


¥\ 


fri 


1 

■!,■ 

ii, 

fJKV    i 

•   ;f'l 

less  gang,  half  trailer,  half  explorer,  wholly  bent  on  divortise- 
ment,  and  not  tliscourujfcd  by  misery  or  peril.  They  lived  in  a 
certain  fashion,  to  which  the  missionaries  tlienisolves  were  not 
averse,  as  Lemercier  shown  when  ho  commends  the  priests  of 
his  order  as  being  savages  among  savages.  Charlevoix  tells  us 
that  while  the  Indian  did  not  become  French,  the  Frenchman 
became  a  savage.  Talon  speaks  of  these  vagabonds  as  living  as 
banditti,  gathering  furs  as  they  could,  and  bringing  them  to 
Albi.;  y  or  Montreal  to  sell,  just  as  it  proved  the  easucst.  If  the 
intcndant  couhl  have  controlled  tlu^m,  he  would  have  made  them 
marry,  give  up  trade  and  the  wilderness,  and  settle  down  to 
work.  It  was  his  attempts  to  do  this  that  drove  tliem  into  tlie 
woods  and  threw  them  into  the  English  trade.  Their  alienation 
helped  the  English  and  embarrassed  tlio  French.  It  was  left 
for  Frontenac  later  to  regulate  what  could  not  bo  suppressed. 

Father  Allouez  tells  us  how  ho  was  urged  by  the  savages 
themselves  to  go  among  the  tribes  at  Green  Bay  and  influence 
to  soberer  practices  a  group  of  these  men  who  congregated  there. 
It  was  on  this  mission  that  he  left  La  Pointe,  with  the  further 
hope  of  making  some  converts  among  the  neighboring  Indians, 
lie  returned  first  to  the  Sault,  and  left  there  for  his  new  post  on 
November  3.     Here  he  spent  the  winter,  and  founded 

lfi(19-70. 

Allouez  nt      thc  uussiori  of  St.  Fraucis  Xavier  among  the  Potta- 

Green  Br.y.  ,  t       4        'i   ^^   «it/\       1  1     i     i       t< 

wattamies.  In  April  (1070),  he  ascended  the  r  ox,  and 
found  Indians  on  Lake  Winnebago  mourning  tlie  losses  they 
had  experienced  in  a  recent  attack  by  the  Senecas.  On  the  Wolf 
River,  an  affluent  of  the  Fox,  he  founded  anotiier  mission,  that 
of  St.  Mark,  and  for  a  while  administered  at  both  missions. 
In  some  of  his  further  exploration:^  he  reached  the  head  of  the 
Wisconsin,  and  records  that  it  led  to  the  great  river  "  Messi- 
sipi,"  six  days  o£P.  The  Relation  of  1G69-70  repeats  this 
new  story  of  the  great  river  in  speaking  of  it;  as  more  than  a 
league  wide,  and  flowing  from  the  north  to  tlio  south.  It  adds 
that  the  savages  had  never  reached  its  moi.Lli,  and  it  was  not 
certain  whether  it  flowed  into  the  Gulf  of  Florida  or  into  that 
of  California. 


i^^arquetto,  v/hom  Allouez  had  left  at  La  Pointe,  was  living 
disappointed  life.     He  had  the  remnants  of  the  IIu- 
rons  and  Ottawas  about  him,  who  had  settled  here  to 


•••itteat. 


f^ 


RUMORS  OF  THE  GREAT  RIVER. 


201 


be,  as  they  hoped,  boyoi.a  the  reach  of  the  Iioquois.  Wander- 
ing hands  of  a  multitude  of  tribes  came  to  the  post  to  trade 
with  the  French,  and  among  them  were  parties  of  the  Illinois, 
living  at  this  time  apparently  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi' 
Bands  of  the  Sioux,  who  came  too,  said  to  Marquette,  as  they 
had  to  his  predecessor,  that  they  HvchI  on  the  banks  of  this 
same  broad  river.  While  the  poor  priest  was  pondering  how 
ho  coukl  make  Ins  way  to  this  great  water,  and  was  picturing 
more  fruitfi .  fields  for  his  labors,  a  feud  was  gathering  between 
the  llurons  and  the  ferocious  Sioux,  these  Iroquois  of  the  west 
as  Marquette  called  them.  ' 

This  warfare  for  a  time  interfered  with  a  cherished  scheme 
which  Marquette  had  formed  of  going  south  to  the  Illinois,  and 
establishing  a  mission  among   that  people.     He  had   already 
undertaken  to  acquire  their  tongue  from  some  wanderers  of  the 
tribe,  and  from  these  Indians  he  had  learned  that  in  coming  to 
La  Pointe  they  had  passed  a  great  river,  which  flowed  towards 
the  south,  but  none  of  their  tribe  had  ever  reached  its  mouth. 
According  to  the  stories  which  Marquette  heard  from  thomi 
there  was  to  the  south  of  the  Illinois  a  pooide  who  gathered 
corn  twice  a  year.     The  Shawnees  had  told  them,  they  said, 
that  this  distant  people  wore  glass  beads,  and  Marquette  con- 
jectured  that  this  fact  indicated  contact  with  Europeans.    It  took 
thirty  days  to  reach   this  other  people,  going  south  from  the 
Illinois  country.     There  were  other  stories  which  came  to  his 
ears,  as  of  a  river  at  the  west  flowing  to  a  sea  where  large  canoes 
under  sail  had  been  seen,  and  where  the  tide  came  and  wont. 

Marquette,  :'  \  reasoning  upon  such  statements,  reached  a  dif- 
ferent  conclusion  from  Allouez,  in  supposing  that  the  „  ,.      ., 

_,^    i.1       £   0.1  •        •  ,  °  Believes  the 

moutli  ot  this  river  must  be,  not  on  the  Atlantic  side,  g^™*  "^" 
but  on  the  Pacific,  nt  the  Gulf  of  California.  "  If  I  get  ^""'"'^  ""* 
the  canoe,"  he  adds,  "  which  the  Indians  have  promised  to  make 
me,  I  intend  with  another  Frenchman,  who  can  speak  with 
these  lower  i)(M)ple  in  their  own  tongues,  to  navigate  this  stream 
and  come  in  contact  with  these  lower  tribes,  and  so  decide  the 
question  of  the  ultimate  direction  of  this  great  river's  flow." 

The  reports  which  at  this  time  were  coming  in  to  the  Jesuit 
councils  at  Quebec,  and  which  were  embodied  in  their  Relation 
of  1G70-71,  speak  of  the  Mississippi,  as  they  had  now  learned 
to  call  the  great  water,  as  flowing  south  either  into  the  Vermilion 


jjtr 


202 


REORGANIZED   CANADA,   1003-1672. 


'i  I 


|j    ' 


Sea  (California),  or  into  that  of  Florida,  "since  what  is  known 
of  great  rivers  in  that  direction  is  that  they  flow  into  one  or  the 
other  of  these  seas."  "  The  Indians  say,"  the  report  goes  on, 
"that  for  iiore  than  three  hundred  leagues  from  its  mouth  it 
is  wider  than  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Quebec,  and  that  it  flows 
through  a  treeless  prairie  land,  where  the  only  fuel  is  turf  or 
dried  excrements.  As  it  nears  the  sea,  the  woods  again  grow, 
and  in  this  region  the  inhabitants  seem  like  the  French,  have 
houses  in  the  water,  and  cut  trees  with  large  knives."  I'his  is 
interpreted  by  the  writer  in  the  Relation  to  mean  that  the  peo- 
ple have  ships  and  hew  out  planks.  "  All  along  th  xiver  from 
the  Nadouesse  [Sioux]  to  the  south  there  are  many  tribes  of 
different  customs  and  tongues,  and  they  make  war  on  each 
other." 

The  feud  with  the  Sioux  had  so  extended  that  the  Huron  and 
Marquette  Ottawa  f ugitivcs,  unused  to  victory,  moved  away  from 
Hurons""'  La  Poiuto  to  avoid  a  conflict,  and  Marquette  followed 
1G70-71.'  them.  We  shall  see  that  DoUier  found  him  at  the 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  in  1670.  The  next  year  (1671),  we  find  him 
among  the  Hurons  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Straits  of  Macki- 
naw, where  they  had  stopped  in  their  flight,  and  here  Marquette 
founded  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace.  At  the  same  time  another 
priest,  Louis  Andre,  who  had  first  joined  Marquette 
at  La  Points,  settled  with  the  Ottawas  in  their  re- 
treat at  the  Great  Muuitoulin  Island.  The  chastisement  which 
had  been  given  by  Tracy  to  their  inveterate  enemies,  and  of 
which  they  had  heard,  seemed  now  to  embolden  the  Ottawas  to 
move  toward  their  old  country,  west  of  Lake  Huron. 


Andris  with 
the  Ottawas. 


But  before  this  there  had  been  an  imposing  ceremonial  at 
Nicolas  Per-  t^^  Sault  Stc.  Marie.  Among  the  better  class  of  the 
rot,  1C70.  ^jj^j  wanderers  of  the  woods  was  one  Nicolas  Perrot, 
who  had  been  long  enough  among  the  Indians  to  acquire  some 
ascendancy  over  them.  His  countrymen  had  confidence  in  him, 
—  anotlier  point  in  his  favor.  He  was  now  in  the  full  prime  of 
physical  vigor ;  young  enough  to  endure  and  show  others  how 
to  endure.  He  was  twenty-six  or  thereabouts.  In  the  summer 
of  1670,  after  he  had  spent  a  winter  among  the  western  tribes, 
a  long  line  of  fur-laden  canoes  trailed  along  the  Ottawa  route 
under  his  guidance. 


ENGLISH    EXPLORERS. 


203 


Perrot  came  to  Quebec  at  a  time  which  was  opportune  for 
Talon  s  projects.  The  intendant  had,  before  this,  dispatched 
Jo  let  to  the  extreme  west  to  seek  for  the  mines  of  copper,  said 
to  he  thereabouts,  but  that  pioneer  had  failed  to  discover  them 
Talon  was  now  ready  to  send  an  official  expedition  of  lar-er 
auns,  with  the  certainty,  as  he  thought,  of  establishing  such 
relations  with  the  tribes  of  that  region  as  would  serve,  in  some 
measure  at  least,  to  balk  the  English  in  their  efforts  to  draw  the 
Indian  trade  to  stations  on  Hudson's  Bay. 

There  might  well  have  been  in  Talon's  mind  other  plans  of 
the  English  which  troubled  him.     The  scheme  of  the   rival 
crown  in  granting  charters  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  durin- 
the  preceding  sixty  years  could  hardly  '  ^ve  been  unknown  to 
the   French  government.     The   charter   of   Virginia   vir  i„ia 
foriiiulated  a  claim  for  extension  "  up  into  the  land  '=''"^'"* 
throughout  from  sea  to  sea  west  and  northwest,"  and  this  de- 
scription stretched  their  claim,  as  later  discoveries  had  shown 
over  the  very  country  which  for  nearly  forty  years  the  French 
wood-rangers  and  priests  had  been   exploring.     The   opinion 
which  has  been  since  advanced,  that  the  annulling  of  the  Vir- 
ginia charter  in  1624  hyquo  zoarmnto  Vf2.^  equivalent  to  an 
abandonment  of  this  right  of  extension  bevond  the  Alleghanies 
was  hardly  in  mind  then,  and  the  Engli^sh  Commonwealth,  in 
1651  certainly  reaffirmed  this  inordinate  sea-to-sea  pretenpion. 
The  later  charters  of  Massach..  .its  and  Connecticut  recognized 
Uiis   extravagant   right,  though  the  subsequent  grants  to  the 
Duke  of  York  and  Penn  were  in  disregard  of  it.     It  has  been 
asserted  that  the  authorities  in  Virginia  just  at  this  time  were 
giving  practical  expression  to  their  alleged  rights  beyond  the 
mountains  m  sending  out  expeditions  to  find  and  detormine 
the  direction  of  the  streams  of  the  great  inland  wator-shed. 
VVe  need  not  regard  stories  trumped   up  at  a  much  lator  pe- 
nod  to  enforce  the  English  claim  along  the  Ohio,  such  as  that 
which  Thomas  Ilutohins  tells  of  a  Captain  Bolt  reaching  the 
Mississippi  by  this  route  in  1670.     It  is  to  be  feared  that  there 
IS  no  weightier  ground  for  believing  that  in  Septem- 
ber, 1671,  just  after  the  French  had  made  the  cere-  ^^^^ 
momal  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  soon  to  be  described,  S/^Tue- 
txovernor  Berkeley  of  Virginia  sent  Captain  Thomas  '""""• 
Batts,  with  a  partj  of  English  and  Indians,  over  the  mountains 


1070-71. 
St.  Lus- 
Boii's  expe- 
dition. 


204  REORGANIZED   CANADA,  1663-1672. 

to  observe  the  course  of  these  western  currents.     We  shall  re- 
vert to  this  story  in  the  next  chapter. 

Of  the  sufficiently  accredited  and  far  more  imposing  effort  at 
continental  occupation,  to  which  in  the  very  same  year  Talon 
was  giving  direction  along  the  Great  Lakes,  Simon  Fran9oi3 
Daumont,  Sieur  St.  Lusson,  had  been  selected  the 
leader.  He  had  been  commissioned  the  previous 
year,  September  3,  1G70.  In  October,  the  party 
started.  There  was  a  small  retinue,  but  what  was  vastly  more 
important,  the  indispensable  Perrot  was  of  the  number.  When 
the  party  reached  the  Manitoulin  Islands,  St.  Lusson  remained 
there  in  camp  for  the  winter.  Toward  spring,  Perrot,  who  had 
instructions  both  from  Courcelles  and  Talon,  went  on  to  the 
more  distant  regions  to  prejiare  the  Indians  for  the  scene  they 
Perrot'a  vfevfi  to  wituess.  We  get  the  story  in  good  part  from 
memoirs.  Perrot's  owii  mcmoirs.  This  narrative  served  Charle- 
voix in  his  account  of  the  events ;  but  it  was  not  given  to  the 
modern  scholar  till  Father  Tailhan  edited  it  from  the  manu- 
script in  Paris  in  1864.  It  had  been  in  good  part  used  by  La 
Potherie,  and  the  English  reader  had  known  something  of  it  be- 
fore in  such  parts  of  it  as  Golden  included  in  his  Five  Nations. 
This  memoir  makes  reference  to  other  writings  of  Perrot,  in- 
volving his  knowledge  of  savage  life  and  history,  but  no  other 
manuscript  has  come  down  to  us. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  authorities  to  have  an  august  cere- 
mony at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  in  the  following  summer,  and 
Perrot's  mission  in  going  ahead  was  to  arrange  with  the  tribes 
neighboring  to  Green  Bay  that  they  should  accompany  him 
to  the  Sault  in  the  spring  (1671).  He  seems  to  have  elicited 
a  showy  welcome  among  these  tribes,  where  he  was  regaled  with 
feasts  and  exhilarated  with  mock  fights.  By  May,  a  large 
concourse  of  savages  had  assembled  at  the  appointed  place. 
There  were  not  only  those  who  had  come  with  Perrot  from 
Green  Bay,  but  others  had  res])onded  to  the  call  of  messengers 
sent  west  and  north,  and  even  from  the  east,  they  came,  as  far 
as  from  Lake  Nipissing,  —  fourteen  tribes  in  all,  as  their  repre- 
sentatives were  counted.  St.  Lusson  had  come,  as  was  ex- 
pected, and  in  his  train  was  Louis  Joliet,  a  name  already  be- 
come conspicuous  in  this  western  exj)loration,  as  we  have  seen, 


''! 


("1 


ST.  LUSSON'S  PAGEANT. 


205 


^?i?!  ^  ^PP^^e«%  teeii  the  earliest  to  visit  Green  Bav 
(1668)  since  the  time  of  Nicolet.  It  was  on  the  14th  of  June 
that  all  was  ready,  and  we  may  follow  the  Jielatio?i  of  1671  in 
deseribmg  what  took  place. 

To  the  top  of  a  hill  near  the  Sanlt,  St.  Lnsson  led  the  mot- 
ley  throng, -soldier,  priest,  and  savage,  all  in  their  ,,„  , 
holiday  array.     We  have  the  signatures  of  those  who  "    ^t'^ 
were  conspicuous  in  the  ceremonials,  attached  to  the  ™a"r* 
instrument,  recording  their  assumption  of  power  for  the  Fren-h 
king  over  all  the  territory  from  the  North  to  the  South  Sea 
and  extending  to  the  ocean  on  the  west.     What  such  a  ranoe 
meant   not  one  of  them  knew.     Among  these  signatures  we 
read  the  names  of  four  Jesuits,  Claude  Dablon,  Gabriel  Druil- 
lettes,  Claude  AUouez,  and  Louis  Andre.     Druillettes  was  the 
most  interesting  of  this  group,  both  from  the  experience  which 
a  long  l.fe   had  given  him,   and  from  his  knowledge  of    the 
English    whom  he  had  known  a  score  of   years  before  when 
he  had  been  sent  to  Boston  to  gain  their  alliance  against  the 
xroquois,  and  whose  rights  they  were  on  the  point  of  contest- 
ing m  a  regal  act  of  possession.     It  devolved   upon   Dablon 
as  the  superior  of  the  lake  missions  to  bless  a  wooden  cross 
which  had   been  prepared.     The  dusky  faces  of  the  encircled 
savages,  with  glimmering  eyes,  wide  with  wonder,  were  turned 
from  all  sides  towards  this  central  group  of  Europeans.     As 
the  huge  cross  was  lifted  from  one  end  and  dropped  into  its 
cavity,  the  uncovered  French  chanted  a  hymn  of  the  seventh 
century, — 

"  Vexilla  .Regis  prodenint 
Fulget  crucis  niysterium,"  etc. 

This  done,  a  plate  on  which  was  engraved  the  royal  arms  was 
set  on  a  post  close  by  the  cross,  while  the  Examliat  was  sung 
and  a  priest  offered  a  prayer  for  the  king.  St.  Lusson  then, 
liftmg  a  sod  and  holding  forth  his  sword,  took  formal  possession 
of  the  soil  in  the  name  of  His  Most  Christian  Majesty.  Vive 
h  lioi  was  the  shout  of  the  Frenchmen  in  recognition  of  this 
claim  of  sovereignty ;  and  the  wild  Indians  howled  in  concert. 

Father  Dablon  has  preserved  for  us  the  curious  speech  which 
AIloucz  made  to  the  assembled  savages.  Allouez  was,  on  more 
than  one  such  occasion,  the  preferred  spokesman  of  his  order. 
He  was  not  unused  to  the  Indian  method  of  harangue.    He  told 


\ 


Cfi 


20G 


REORfJANIZED   CANADA,  1GG3-1672. 


them  that  the  great  monarch  of  France  fought  amid  his  warriors 
until  he  was  gory  with  the  blood  of  those  he  had  slain.  The 
miglity  king  of  the  French  did  not  resort  to  scalping  to  score 
the  ninuber  of  his  victims,  because  the  streams  of  blood  which 
he  caused  to  flow  were  a  much  better  reckoning !  There  was 
nuich  else  of  like  grimness  iu  the  Jesuit's  speech. 

There  was  something  fortuitously  grand  in  the  goograpiiical 
Ti.o  Reo-  conception  of  these  Frenchmen  at  the  SaiUt  Ste.  Marie. 
poHlti'Tof  There  was  hardly  a  spot  on  the  continent  that  opened 
"'"  **"'"■  more  striking  vistas  of  dominati(m  along  such  lines  of 
transit  as  nature  had  provided  here.  Marquette  had  divined  it 
in  relation  to  the  missionary  service.  "  Mackinac,"  he  says, 
"  is  the  portal  of  the  southern  tribes,  as  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  is 
of  those  of  the  north  and  west,  and  many  nations  pass  these 
gates  to  reach  the  settlements  of  the  French." 

Talon  could  but  have  an  inadequate  conception  of  what  his 
representative  had  done.  In  making  a  report  to  the  homo  gov- 
ernment of  what  St.  Lusson  had  accomplished,  the  intendant 
had  expressed  the  opinion  that  this  officer  had  penetrated  to  a 
point  not  more  than  three  hundred  leagues  from  the  "  extremity 
of  the  land  "  at  the  Vermilion  or  South  Sea,  and  that  thence  one 
would  have  to  sail  fifteen  hundred  leagues  to  reach  China  and 
Japan. 

From  Lake  Superior  as  a  centre,  the  French  had  reached  at 
this  time  some  pretty  definite  conclusions  as  to  a  route  to  Hud- 
son's Bay  ;  but  of  the  great  tracts  of  the  Canadian  northwest 
>vith  its  icy  sea  towards  the  pole,  and  rocky  barriers  towards  the 
setting  sun,  there  was  yet  nothing,  even  in  the  Indian  reports, 
to  shape  the  ideas  of  its  future.  To  the  south  and  southwest 
the  expectation  was  more  definite,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
the  great  water  of  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  revealed,  if  it  had 
not  already  been  glimpsed. 

The  same  liclation  (1G71)  which  had  given  an  acconnt  of 
ir,7i.  Jesuit  *^'^  ceremonials  under  St.  Lusson  contained  the  ear- 
suporL^'"'^  ^^^^*  "^''^P  °^  '^  completed  Lake  Superior,  which  in 
a  few  details  as  to  missions  was  rectified  in  a  part  of 
the  edition  of  the  delation  for  the  next  year.  Parkman  holds 
that  this  Jesuit  map  has  been  unduly  praised  for  accuracy  in 


CARTOGRAPHY. 


\  i 


207 


comparison  with  other  Canadian  maps  of  that  clay ;  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  any  bettor  was  engraved.     It  was  certainly  a  sur- 
prising  imi>rovenient   upon  what  the  leading  cartographers  of 
Europe  at  this  time  were  letting  pass  for  the  geograi)hy  of  this 
region.    The  Duteh  Montanus  a  year  before  (1(570)  had  reached 
no  conclusions  from  all  that  had  come  to  his  knowledge,  except 
that  there  was  some  sort  of  a  big  sea  thereabouts.     After  tJie 
Jesuit  map  was  published,  a  German  editor  of  Montanus,  in 
1673,  reengraved  the  Dutcdi  map,  and  let  it  stand  as  before 
Ogilby,  though  he  based  his  English  work  on  Mon-  j,„,.ta„u8 
tanus  m  its  text,  seems  for  the  whole  western  region   "k"%""'' 
to  have  advanced  scarcely  beyond  Champlain.     This  En^dish 
geographer  had  not  even  heard  of  the  Ottawa  route  wliieirAV- 
lation  after  Halation  had  emphasized,  and  neither  Michigan 
nor  Superior,  in  even  a  rudimentary  shape,  appear  in  his  map 
showing  how  little  recourse  was  had  by  the  northern  geographers' 
of  Europe  to  the  records  of   the   French  missionaries.      This 
neglect  of  opportunities  is  nowhere  more  apparent  than  in  the 
map  of  his  province  of  Maryland,  which  was  made  for  Lord 
Baltimore  in  the  very  year  of  St.  Lusson's  pageant.     This  was 
a  survey  by  Augustine  Herman,  a  Bohemian  engineer,  who  i)aid 
for  a  tract  of  land  assigned  to  him  by  the  lord  proprietor,  by 
this  cartographical  service.     The  map  was  published  in  London, 
in  1670,  and  in  a  legend  u])on  it  we  read  :  "  These  mighty  hio-h 
and  great  mountains  [meaning  the  Appalachians]  are  supposed 
to  be  the  very  middle  ridge  of  Northern  America.     And,  as 
Indians  report,  from  the  other  side,  westward  do  the  rivers  take 
their  original  issuing  out  into  the  west  sea." 

Ogilby  had  made  of  Lake  Erie  a  mere  river,  —  but  we  need 
now  to  show  how  quite  other  notions  had  prevailed  for 
a  year  or  two,  of  this  last  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  be 
developed. 

When  Talon  wrote  to  Colbert,  in  1670,  that  he  had  sent  reso- 
lute people  to  go  farther  west  than  any  one  had  gone  before,  it 
is  supposed  — and  indeed  it  maybe  held  to  be  certain  — that 
he  meant  to  refer  to  St.  Lusson,  as  he  added  that  one  such  had 
gone  to  the  west  and  northwest.  He  probably  also  had  La  Salle 
in  mind  when  he  said  that  another  had  gone  south  and  south- 
west. We  get  upon  debatable  ground  at  this  time  in  tryin"-  to 
find  out  precisely  what  this  new  actor  on  the  scene  did  in  these 


Lake  Erie. 


i   M 


f 


208 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,  1663-1672. 


m 


I  * 


?i 


P' 

i   "I 

if' 

<     i 

r 

1   ' 

-t        1 

n^m^'-  >'-> 


LAKE  SUPERIOR. 


LAKE  SUPERIOR. 


209 


•^  '"■ 


C'lait  da*  ffinyn 


^i/ju  du  (Ferrer 


^®li:yV 


r.'j-.vv"'/.  -'■.'.••■-••."  ■'     ■-     .      ..    . ,- _     -  ^ 

^  ^:•v^■■T?v5i'h.:.■^■'■;.;.v^:■.r:^.A^■v.i.  .■-■■.    -   . 


' 


'^•iJuiU  <^^qLiUue* 


[From  the  Jesuil  Relation,  1G72.] 


210 


REORGANIZED   CANADA,  1663-1672. 


years  before  Marquette  and  Joliet   made   their  unquestioned 
visit  to  the  Mississippi  in  1G73. 


If 


Jfrl    E 
If-'l    ' 


IL?!  Ill 


Rene  Robert  Cavelier,  of  an  old  and  rich  burgher  family  at 
Rouen,  is  known  in  American  history  as  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle, 


LA   SALLE. 


211 


\^i 


o\ 


from  an  estate  of  his  family  near  that  Norman  town.    Early  in 
life  he  was  a  Jesuit  novice,  or  at  least  the  evidence 
is  suggestive,  if  not  conclusive,  that  he  was  ;  and  it  ^  ^*"'' 
is  usually  said  that  he  left  the  order  because  of  his  unwilling. 

ness  to  curb  his  independen;,  spirit.     A  defection  of  this  sort 

grant  it  tiue  —  would  naturally  deprive  him  of  the  sympathies 
of  that  order,  and  that  it  did  has  been  sometimes  in- 
ferred from  the  studious  absence  of  all  reference  to  "tiulle'""'' 
him  and  his  doings  in  the  published  IMations  of  the  '''"'"'"' 
Canadian  Jesuits.     The  only  direct  statement  that  he  had  been 
connected  with  the  Jesuits  comes  from  Hennepin,  —  a  dubious 
authority,  —  and  some  writers  on  Canadian  history,  like  Kings- 
ford,  have  failed  to  find  any  corroborative  evidence.     His  own 
nature  hardly  fitted  him  for  the  servility  of  the  Jesuits,  for  he 
had  an  ardent  temperament  difficult  to  restrain,  and  hib  char- 
an  ambition  suited  better  to  independency  than  to  a  ""=*''• 
religious  subjection.     His  enthusiasm  made  friends  for  him; 
but  his  headlong  conduct  sometimes  lost  them. 

Having  a  brother  in  Canada  of  the  Sulpitian  fraternity,  he 
was  led  to  join  him.  He  was  about  twenty-three  when  we  first 
find  him  at  Montreal.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  town 
had  been  founded  by  priests  of  the  Sulpitian  order,  not  far  from 
the  time  when  La  Salle  was  born,  and  that  order's  incorporated 
seminary  was  now  the  feudal  lord  of  a  large  landed  property 
thereabouts.  The  Iroquois  wars  had  operated  to  hinder  settle- 
ment of  their  outlying  lands,  but  now  that  peace  had  come  there 
were  eager  bidders  for  grants  of  lands,  and  among  them  was  the 
young  La  Salle.  From  this  source  he  received  a  tract  At  Montreal 
of  territory  just  at  the  head  of  the  rapids  above  Mon-  ^"*^'- 
tieal,  admirably  fitted  as  a  station  for  the  fur  trade,  as  Cham- 
plain  had  pointed  out  over  thirty  years  before.  The  spot  was 
several  miles  from  the  thinly  peopled  squares  of  the  to  vn,  sur- 
rounded by  forests,  and  fit  to  be  converted  into  an  outpost  of 
the  settlement,  and  such  the  Sulpitian  fathers  expected  La  Salle 
to  make  it. 

It  was  apparently  near  the  close  of  1667  that  he  secured  his 
land,  and  during  the  winter  he  began  to  clear  it.     By  the  end  of 
1668,  he  had  ton  or  twelve  acres  under  cultivation,  and 
had  begun  a  })alisaded  village.     He  granted  land  both 
within  and  without  these  defenses  to  such  as  could  be  induced 


\\\ 


212 


IlEOIiOANIZED   CANADA,  lGO.i-1673. 


to  bt'come  liia  tenants,  and  a  large  conunon  was  set  a  .do  for  tlie 
public  use.  lie  began  buildings  for  liis  own  occupancy,  evidently 
witli  the  intention  of  leading  the  life  of  a  resident  seigneur,  and 
he  j)roteeted  himself  from  over-neighborly  intrusion  by  leaving 
broad  unoccupied  acres  —  more  than  four  hnnth-ed,  it  is  said  — 
about  his  homestead,  wherever  this  was,  for  th<  re  is  some  contro- 


mw 


..  \ 


.."%% 


\\  1 


"*^^nm^^^m.& 


LA  SALLK. 
[From  a  copy  of  an  old  Eiigrnviiig  given  by  Gravier.] 

versy  as  to  its  exact  ]>osition  in  his  grant.  Here  he  lived  for  a 
while,  by  no  means  inactively,  lie  went  on  excursions  towards 
the  noi'th,  and  wo  are  told  that  he  became  satisfied  there  Avas  no 
practicable  coniniunicatiou  to  be  had  that  way  with  any  western 
sea.  Pie  conned  the  Indian  tongv.es,  and  gained  .some  proficiency 
in  such  studios. 

La  Salle,  however,  was  too  much  fascinated  with  the  visions 


ZT- 


LA   SALLE. 


218 


of  an  explorer  to  make  a  good  settler,  and  when  some  Senecas, 
in  the  winter  of  1G(J8-G9,   visited  his  post,   he  was 
freshly  aroused  by  the  way  in  which  they  depicted  to  .-«f«ti^r' 
him  the  course  of  a  great  river,  rising  in  their  country  t«ii'of  a 
and  making  its  way  to  the  southward  for  such  a  dis-  waT^  ?,'"' 
tanco  that  it  would  take  eight  or  nine  months  for  a  *'""'""'"'• 
canoe  to  follow  it  to  the  sea.     The  story  is  comprehensible  to- 
day by  cond)ining   in  one  the  courses  of   the  Alleghany,  the 
Ohio,  and   the   Mississippi,  but  to  La  Salle's  imagination  it 
was  a  vision  of  the  great  waterway  which  had  been  looked  for 
from  the  time  of  Cartier.     In  the  turn  which  geographical  con- 
ceptions respecting  the  interior  of  North  America  had  been 
for  some  years  taking,  it  seemed  probable  then  that  this  outlet 
of  the  long  river  must  be  in  the  Gulf  of  California.     It  was  a 
grateful  thought  that  this  would  make  it  a  ready  channel  to 
the  South  Sea,  and  give  the  French  access  to  a  route  to  China, 
quite  as  convenient  as  that  of  the  Si)aniards  from  Acapulco. 

To  embark  on  such  an  enterprise  as  to  search  for  this  river 
accorded  quite  with  La  Salle's  temper ;  but  as  he  had 
invested  all  he  had  in  his  seigneury,  he  was  without  the  PinnHm, 
necessary  funds  for  an  equii)nient.  With  the  hope  '"'""'''"°"' 
that  he  could  secure  countenance,  and  perhaps  more  active  aid, 
from  the  authorities  at  Quebec,  he  went  thither.  Courcelles 
gave  him  letters  patent,  authorizing  him  to  make  discoveries, 
and  commended  him  to  the  kind  notice  of  the  rulers  in  Virginia 
and  Florida,  if  he  should  chance  to  come  within  their  jurisdic- 
tions. With  these  credentials  La  Salle  returnod  to  Montreal, 
and  began  a  treaty  for  the  sale  of  his  estate ;  bat  before  it  was 
concluded,  he  entered  into  certain  contracts  with  those  who  were 
to  accompany  him,  including  the  Sieur  de  la  Roussiliere,  who 
M\'is  to  be  the  surgeon  of  the  expedition.  These  contracts  indi- 
cate that  he  was  not  at  all  sure  what  direction  he  should  ulti- 
mately take,  whether  to  the  north  or  the  south,  and  he  evidently 
meant  to  leave  himself  free  to  profit  by  circumstances  as  they 
might  arise,  for  his  men  bound  themselves  to  follow  him  in 
either  direction. 

Meanwhile,  there  were  other  considerations  to  enter  into  his 
plan.  Dollier  de  Casson,  a  Sulpitian  priest,  had  passed  poiiierde 
a  winter  in  the  Nipissing  country.     He  had  a  daring  ^"''°"- 
habit,  which  had  been  nurtured  in  early  life  as  a  trooper  of 


214 


HKOIKiANIZHIi   CANADA,    10ti.3-lt!7^. 


<  > 


QupyluH. 


IGOO, 


Tnionnc's  nrmy,  uiid  more  recently  under  CourcelloH  in  his 
iiu'oiid  into  the  IroqnoJH  country.  Durinj;  this  winter  in  the 
wihU'rness,  DoUier  had  seen  a  slave  of  the  Indians,  whoso  own 
country  was  jiiar  otY  towards  the  soutliwest,  and  ho  had  sent 
the  savage  to  Montreal.  Hero  the  ftdlow  ins})ired 
(^ueylus  of  the  Sulpitian  mission  with  a  desire  to  reaeh 
with  his  missionaries  this  distant  land,  of  wliich  its  native  spoke 
so  j;]()\vingly.  In  the  autunui  of  10(58,  that  Sidpitian  had  estah- 
lished  a  ndssion  station  for  his  order  at  the  Bay  of  Quinte,  on 
the  northern  verge  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  he  was  (luite  in  the 
mood  of  adding  to  the  Sulpitiau  agencies  another  in  this  dis- 
tant region,  some  seven  or  eight  hundred  leagues  away,  as  they 
understood  ^ho  slave's  story,  (iueylus  represented  to  Dollier 
that  the  chance  of  guidance  thither,  which  this  man  offered, 
was  an  opijortunity  not  to  be  lost  in  the  service  of  tlie  church. 
Dollier  had  agreed  to  the  ])roposition,  when  Laval  opportunely 
came  to  Montreal,  and  gave  Dollier  a  letter  of  author- 
ity (May  15,  1009),  and  conunended  him  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Jesuits,  wherever  he  might  encounter  them.  Laval 
recommended  him  to  work  among  tlie  Ottawas  of  the  Missis- 
sippi region,  using  that  trihal  name  in  a  generic  way,  and  ap- 
plying it  to  all  that  people's  kindred,  wherever  they  might  be 
foiMid. 

Just  here  it  occurred  to  Courcclles  to  strengthen  the  chances 
of  success  by  uniting  La  Salle's  and  the  Sulpitiar.s' 

Ln  Salln  and  ,        ,  ,  .  i  -,  -i  i.i        C    1 

the  siiiDi-  parties  in  one  enteri)rise,  and  he  urged  upon  the  oul- 
tausjon,  j,j|.:j^jjg  ^y  abandon  the  direct  western  route,  which 
they  had  proposed,  and  to  follow  the  more  southerly  direction 
which  La  Salle  intended.  Galince,  another  Sulpititm,  some- 
what versed  in  surveying  processes,  had  been  joined  with  Dol- 
lier, and  the  two  now  came  into  Courcelles's  i)lan.  The  expe- 
dition thus  took  on  a  sort  of  double  control,  which  did  not 
argue  well  for  its  success.  Queylus,  not  having  groat  faith  in 
La  Salle's  proficiency  in  the  native  tongues,  added  a  Dutchman 
to  the  company,  who  could  talk  in  Irocpiois,  but  who  unfortu- 
nately had  little  knowledge  of  French. 

On  July  0,  1609,  La  Salle  concluded  the  contract  for  the 
ivnd  start.  ^alo  of  liis  landed  property,  and  on  the  same  day  the 
iGGO,  jub'  c.  little  flotilla  floated  out  into  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
headed  upstream.     The  party  was  more  than  half  of  La  Salle's 


I 


QALIMCK'S  JOUHNA  L, 


215 


cliooHinj?.  Tho  twenty  men  wliiclj  constituted  it,  in  their  seven 
canoes,  looked  back  to  those  who  wished  them  (Jod-sjjeed  with 
not  all  tlie  assmanee  that  sometimes  emboldens  doubtful  enter- 
prises, for  there  was  by  no  means  a  certainty  that  tho  peace 
with  tho  Iro(pioi3  was  stable  enough  to  last  till  their  intended 


LAVAL. 

[Prom  Suite's  Ciinadiens-FranfuU,  vi.] 

intercourse  wi«^^h  those  Indians  was  passed.      Two  canoes  of 
Senecas  returning  to  their  homes  led  the  way  as  guides. 

In  following  the  events  of  the  expedition,  we  must  depend 
upon  the  journal  which  Galince  has  left,  now   pre- 
served in  the  great  library  at  Paris.      Of  the  map  fo"and 
which  accompanies  it  there  is  a  copy  in  the  libraiy  of  ""*''■ 
Harvard  College,  from  which   the   annexed   sketch  is  made. 


•1 1 


I  if 


<;  9^v 


1:1 


m 


nm 


i 


I   I  m 


11  I 


I 


216  REORGANIZED   CANADA,  1G63-1672. 

The  contents  of  this  journal  were  first  made  known  to  American 
scholars  by  Mr.  O.  H.  Marshall  in  1874.  but  the  full  text  ap- 
peared later  in  Margry's  documeutary  publication. 


[From  P.  Duval's  Gengraphie  Universelle.  Tliis  atlas  of  a  French  Geographer  Royal  served  to 
keep  up  tlie  notion  (1658-1082)  that  the  Ottawa  and  not  the  Niagara  conducted  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  to  the  sea.] 

The  object  of  La  Salle  was  first  to  go  to  the  Seneca  villages, 
where  he  hoped  to  obtain  guides  for  further  progress.  The 
canoes  passed  into  I-ake  Ontario,  and,  following  the  southern 
An  ist  26  s^^ore,  they  reached  Irondequoit  Bay  on  August  26, 
■^uolt'fia''"  ^^^^'  On  this  same  day,  Fromin  and  Gamier,  who 
were  holding  the  Jesuit  mission  among  the  kSenecas, 


LA  SALLE   ON  LAKE   ONTARIO. 


217 


left  their  post  for  Onondaga  to  attend  a  general  council  of  the 
Jesuits  then  working  in  the  Iroquois  country.  It  has  been  sus- 
pected that  they  got  word  of  the  landing  at  Irondequoit  and 
absented  themselves  conveniently,  in  order  to  harass  the  Sulpi- 
tians  by  depriving  them  of  the  means  of  communication  with 
the  Indians.  From  the  landing,  La  Salle,  Galinde,  and  a  few 
others  made  their  way  to  the  mission,  only  to  find  that  the  Jes- 
uits, to  whom  the  letter  of  Laval  accredited  them  for  kind  offices, 
were  gone.  What  Fremin  and  his  companion  had  anticipated 
—  if  the  theory  of  willfid  desertion  is  allowed  —  was  soon  ap- 
parent,  for  it  does  not  appear  that  La  Salle's  acquaintance  with 
the  Iroquois  tongue  was  of  much  service,  and  the  strangers 
were  sadly  at  a  loss  in  trying  to  communicate  their  desire  to 
secure  guides.  The  savages  could  do  nothing  but  feast  the  new- 
comers. They  after  their  own  fashion  added  to  the  entertain- 
ment by  putting  to  the  torture  a  prisoner  whom  it  was  supposed 
they  had  captured  on  the  bank  of  the  very  river  of  which  La 
Salle  was  dreaming.  What  intelligent  intercourse  the  French 
}:ad  seems  to  have  been  brought  about  by  the  aid  of  a  servant 
of  Fremin,  whom  that  missionary  had  left  behind,  and  through 
hmi  La  Salle  tried  to  ransom  the  poor  prisoner,  as  likely  to  be 
such  a  guide  as  he  wanted,  but  he  could  offer  no  inducement 
equal  to  the  joys  of  torturing.  Through  the  same  interpreter 
the  French  got  new  descriptions  of  a  broad  prairie  land  to  the 
south,  which  stretched  a  long  distance  without  trees ;  Amon  the 
and  they  heard,  as  Galinee's  journal  tells  us,  of  a  ??"«''»«•  ° 

1  ,        T        ,    .  "i    „  ?  "■     Hears  of  the 

people  who  lived  m  a  warm  and  fertile  country,  hard  '^'''°- 
by  a  river  which  flowed  so  that  it  must  run  ultimately,  as  was 
thought,  into  the  Mexican  Gulf  or  the  Vermilion  Sea.     Such 
were  the  reports  of  the  yet  undiscovered  Ohio. 

The  feasts,  in  which  the  visitors  shared,  resulted  in  drunken 
orgies,  and  the  Frenchmen  began  to  be  alarmed  at  the  possible 
dangers  of  inflamed  passions.  They  had  heard,  moreover,  that 
there  was  farther  to  the  west  a  better  way  of  finding  this  river. 
All  this  easily  moved  them  to  return  to  the  lake,  which  they  did 
without  mishap. 

Once  more  afloat,  the  little  flotilla  moved  on  towards  the  set- 
ting sun.     They  passed   the  Niagara  River  without 
entering  it,  and  noted  the  sound  of  the  distant  cata-  "Sof" 
ract,  and  Galinee's  account  of  it  is  perhaps  the  earli-  ^'"^'"''' 


P  '-  nf 


218 


REORGANIZED   CANADA,  1G63-1672. 


I  I 


Per6  and 


Am  I 


est  we  have,  except  from  Indian  sources.  They  reached  at  last 
the  extreme  western  end  of  Ontario,  and  found  welcome  at  an 
Indian  village.  Here  La  Salle  came  in  contact  with  a  prisoner 
from  the  Shawnee  tribe  held  by  these  villagers,  and  this  man 
told  the  French  that  it  was  a  six  weeks'  journey  from  where 
they  were  to  the  great  river,  and  that  he  could  lead  them  there. 
It  was  contrived  to  make  this  fellow's  captors  offer  him  as  a 
gift,  and  La  Salle  gladly  accepted  him. 

Just  at  this  juncture,  word  came  from  a  neighboring  village 
that  two  Frenchmen  had  arrived  there  from  the  west.  We 
must  go  back  a  little  to  account  for  their  appearance. 

In  February,  1G69,  Talon,  who  was  then  in  France,  informed 
Colbert  that  he  had  brought  with  him  from  Caiaada  a  young 
voyageur  who  felt  confident  of  finding  a  way  from  Lake  Hu- 
ron either  to  the  South  Sea  or  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  that  the 
man  had  already  gone  to  a  greater  distance  west  than  any  one 
else,  and  was  ready  to  go  still  fa^  ther.  This  was  Pere, 
a  frequent  figure  in  these  western  explorations,  and 
when  Talon  shortly  after  returned  to  Canada,  Pere  was  with 
hini.  With  Colbert's  countenance,  the  intendant  was  prepared 
to  make  new  efforts  to  probe  the  secrets  of  the  west.  Plans 
were  soon  made,  and  eloliet,  then  at  the  settlements,  together 
with  Pere,  was  sent  with  the  chief  object  of  discovering 
the  deposits  of  copper  near  Lake  Superior,  of  which 
there  had  been  many  stories  afloat.  He  was  also  expected  to 
discover  if  there  was  not  a  way  of  bringing  the  ore  to  Quebec 
better  than  that  by  the  Ottawa  route,  with  its  laborious  por- 
tages. Colbert  had  not  failed  to  make  Talon  understand  that 
to  discover  and  make  merchantable  at  a  profit  such  copper  de- 
posits was  of  more  importance  than  to  find  any  passage  to  the 
South  Sea,  and  for  some  time  after  this  Talon  fed  the  minis- 
terial cupidity  with  such  stories  as  he  could  gather  of  huge 
lumps  of  copper  lying  exposed  on  the  shores  and  islands  of 
Lake  Superior. 

It  now  turned  out  that  the  Frenchmen  whom  La  Salle  found 
to  be  in  his  vicinity  were  Joliet  and  his  companion, 
on  their  return  from  this  copper-se^^king  expedition. 
La  Salle  and  Joliet  were  not  long  in  establishing  friendship, 
and  the  young  explorer,  who  was  not  far  from  the  age  of 
La  Salle,  had  much  to  say  that  interested  the  other.    Joliet 


Joliet  sent 
west. 


Tliey  meet 
La  Salle. 


GALINEE  AND  DOLLIER. 


219 


told  these  new  friends  about  his  journey,  and  though,  as  it 
seemed,  he  was  not  to  carry  back  to  the  intendant  any  extrava- 
gant  hopes  about  copper,  he  could  tell  him  of  a  new  way  which 
he  had  opened  for  the  growing  communications  with  the  west. 
He  had  descended  the  strait  which  led  from  Huron  to  Erie,  and 
had  for  the  first  time  followed  eastward  the  northern  shore  of 
that  lake.  Fearing  if  he  continued  to  its  outlet  by  the  Niagara 
River  that  he  would  encounter  the  Iroquois,  Joliet  had  tunied 
up  the  valley  of  the  Grand  River,  — an  affluent  on  its  northern 
shore,  —  and  by  this  route  had  struck  the  shores  of  Ontario  near 
its  western  extremity.  He  exhibited  to  La  Salle  a  map  which 
he  had  made  of  his  route,  extending  in  its  most  western  limit 
to  the  land  of  the  Pottawattamies  and  other  more  remote  tribes, 
which  the  missionaries  had  not  yet  reached.  This  map  appealed 
more  to  the  Sulpitians  than  it  did  to  La  Salle,  who  was  little 
inclined  to  abandon  his  purpose  of  finding  a  more  direct  south- 
western route. 

So  it  was  resolved  that  the  party  going  west  should  be  divided, 
and  the  two  divisions  parted  company,  not  without  ,  ,  „ 
some  sarcasm  on  Gahnee's  side,  who  would  have  us  be-  ''™t''«  from 
lieye  that  La  Salle's  determination  to  stay  behind  was  ""''"'''•>  " 
quite  as  much  due  to  an  illness  brought  on  by  the  sight  of  some 
rattlesnakes  as  by  any  choice  of  route.      Before  separating, 
however,  they  all  joined  in  the  celebration  of  mass,  and  then  the 
Sulpitians  took  the  trail  to  the  Grand  River  and  Lake  Erie,  as 
they  had  learned  it  from  Joliet. 

On  reaching  the  lake  shore,  Dollier  and  his  companion  found 
a  sheltered  jdace  for  a  winter's  sojourn,  and  built  their 
bark  huts  and  closed  in  their  solitary  altar.      The  ^"^T" 
months  passed  quietly.    They  found  food,  and  suffered  ^^"'' 
nothing  from  intruders.     They  had  looked  during  these  weary 
weeks  across  the  great  lake,  and  gazed  wistfully  upon  its  limit- 
less waters,  gentle  or  in  turmoil  as  the  storms  came  and  went. 
But  not  an  object  along  that  southern  horizon  helped  them  to 
picture  that  distant  unseen  shore  of  the  lake  where,  as  yet,  no 
wliite  man  had  trod.     It  was  to  remain,  as  it  proved,  for  many 
long  years,  almost  unknown  to  the  explorer,  if  for  no  other 
reason,  because  a  passage  following  it  westward  is  thirty  leagues 
longer  than  the  route  which  skirts  the  northern  shore. 


As  the   si)ri 


l>ring  appvoached,  these  solitary  wanderers   made 


220 


REORGANIZED   CANADA,  1663-1672. 


il 

ti 

i|:  ill 


1G70, 


ready  to  move  on  ;  but  before  departing  they  raised  a  cross  and 

formally  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of 

i)OHm»sioii o£  the  Ironch  king,     ihe  instrument  which   thev  sub- 

thf  uoiiutry.  .,       ,    .  .11  i  1   •  •  1   ,       -,  r 

scribed  is  still  preserved,  and  is  printed  by  Margry. 
This  ceremony  over,  they  bade  adieu  to  what  had  been  to  them 
on  the  whole  a  fi»ttunate  retreat,  and,  packing  their  altar  service 
and  munitions  in  their  canoes,  they  paddled  to  the  west,  facing 

the  balmy  air  of  the  spring.      This  was  on  March  26. 

But  a  mishap  overtook  them.  One  night,  landing 
for  their  rest,  they  failed  to  secure  their  canoes  jiroperly,  and, 
the  wind  rising  while  they  slei)t,  one  of  their  boats  was  washed 
out  into  the  lake,  and  disa])peared.  It  contained  their  religious 
symbols  and  their  store  of  powder.  The  dilemma  of  being  in 
the  wilderness  without  sacred  vessels  and  with  no  defense  was 
enough  to  make  it  apparent  that  they  must  abandon  their  jjur- 
pose  of  establishing  missions,  and  seek  to  return  as  best  they 
could.  The  obvious  course  was  to  make  their  way  to  one  of 
the  western  posts  and  seek  an  escort  of  the  annual  flotilla  down 
the  lakes. 

If  Joliet  had  been  the  first  white  man  to  pass  the  Detroit 
River,  going  east,  DoUier  and  his  companion,  taking  that  track 
in  a  reverse  way,  were  the  earliest  to  paddle  by  the  same  river 
from  Erie  to  Huron.  They  now  passed  to  the  Sault  Sto.  Marie, 
and  reached  its  mission  in  May,  1070.  Here  they  found  two 
priests,  Dablon  and  Marquette,  in  a  palisaded  inclosure,  with  a 
chapel  within.  These  missionaries  had  started  a  garden  close 
at  hand,  and  were  thus  the  earliest  to  begin  to  develop  the 
agricultural  resources  of  that  region.  Laval's  commendations 
of  the  new-comers  to  the  Jesuits  seemed  likely  to  produce  no 
better  welcome  here  than  in  the  Seneca  country,  and  the  Sul- 
pitijins  hardly  cared  to  tarry  in  order  to  make  larger  trial  of 
their  hosts'  hos])itality.  So,  securing  a  French  guide,  they  did 
not  wait  for  the  annual  flotilla,  but  followed  at  once  the  Ot- 
tawa route,  and  by  June  18  they  were  again  in  Montreal. 
Galinee  took  this  first  respite  from  his  labors  to  prepare  a  plot 
of  the  region  which  he  and  Dollier  had  traversed.  It  is  the 
earliest  map  which  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  upper  lakes, 
constructed  a  year  before  St.  Lusson,  as  we  have  seen,  made 
his  ceremonial  at  the  Sault.  One  of  the  marked  features  oi 
this  Galinde  map  is  a  sketch  of  the  northern  shores  of  Lake 


i 

I 


222 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,  1663-1672. 


Isi^i 


''    'f 


Erie,  never  before  comprehended,  and  henceforward  the  narrow 
river  of  Champlain  was  to  give  place  to  something  like  an  ade- 
quate conception  of  this  last  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  be  mapped. 
It  is  somewhat  surprising  to  find  an  entire  absence  of  the  Straits 
of  Mackinaw,  and  apparently  Michigan  and  Huron  are  made 
one  expanse.  It  is  also  clear  that  Galince  had  not  yet  surmised 
what  the  Jesuit  map  of  Lake  Superior  was  so  soon  to  make 
clear,  that  the  great  water  beyond  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  was 
larger  than  the  Mer  Douce,  hither  side  of  that  strait. 

Dablon  and  Marquette,  durini_  tay  of  Dollier  and  Galinee 

at  the  Sault,  had  apparently  bei.ii  reticent  as  to  what  had  been 
done  towards  developing  the  outline  of  the  larger  lake.  This 
map  of  Galinee  is  supposed  to  be  the  one  to  which  reference  is 
made  in  the  lielatioii  of  1670-71,  as  showing  the  missions 
among  the  Ottawas,  where  it  is  described  as  "  very  curious  and 
very  exact,  inasmuch  as  they  have  set  down  nothing  but  what 
these  two  fathers,  who  made  the  journey,  had  seen." 


We 


La  Salle's 
movements, 


need  now  to  try  to  discover  what  was  done  by  La 
Salle  after  he  parted  with  the  Sulpitians,  and  after 
he  had  had  his  interview  with  Joliet  at  the  western 
end  of  ytario.  It  is  not  quite  certain  that  his  particular  com- 
panions stood  by  him  in  what  subsequently  happened,  and  some 
of  them  at  least  are  supposed  by  Faillon  to  have  deserted  La 
Salle,  returning  to  Montreal,  perhaps,  with  Joliet.  It  is  not 
easy  to  account  for  the  lack  of  definite  information  as  to  the 
way  in  which  La  Salle,  with  what  following  he  kept,  now  turned, 
unless  it  be  supposed  that  his  maps  and  journals  for  the  next 
two  years  have  never  come  to  the  knowledge  of  those  who 
could  use  them  in  making  a  record  of  his  movements.  There 
are  somewhat  vague  statements  as  to  such  papers  being  in  ex- 
istence nbout  the  middle  of  the  last  century  ;  but  the  tale  is 
shrouded  with  doubt.  Indeed,  every  statement  which  we  have 
about  La  Salle's  wanderings  at  this  time  is  open  to  suspicion. 
1670.  Perrot  says  that  he  met  La  Salle  on  the  Ottawa  in 

1670  ;  but  there  is  nothing  known  to  corroborate  such 
an  assertion,  and  it  seems  improbable.  What  purports  to  be  a 
record  of  talks,  which  La  Salle  later  made  at  Paris,  in  1678,  re- 
ferring to  this  obscure  period  of  his  life,  is  found  in  a  Jlisfoire 
de  Moiisieu)'  La  /Salle,  which  Margry  prints.     Who  La  Salle's 


LA   SALLE'S  ROUTE. 


ooq 


interlocutor  was  is  not  known,  and  this  and  other  doubtful  as- 
pects of  the  paper  have  caused  divided  opinions  as  to  its  trust- 
worthiness, and  there  is  strong  tendency  among  careful  inves- 
tigators to  give  it  scant  credence. 

Margry,  who  does  not  waver  in  his  trust  in  the  document, 
used  It,  to  his  own  satisfaction  at  least,  in  prcsentin"- 
a  claim  for  La  Salle  to  have  found  the  Ohio  in  1670^  ^Z'lKlt 
reaching  the  Mississippi  by  it,  and  in  1671  to  have  the  MTs'fa' 
gone  by  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Chicago  portage,  and  ''"""• 
so  to  have  reached  the  «  great  water  "  once  more  by  the  channel 
of  the  Illinois.     This,  if  true,  places  to  La  Salle's  credit  the 
discovery  of  both  the   Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.     It  is  note- 
worthy that  this  claim  for  La  Salle,  a  Norman,  has  found  its 
chief  supporters  in  Margry  and  Gravier,  both  natives  of  the 
same  part  of    France.     Some  other   writers,  like  Butterfield 
have  given  it  a  qualified  adhesion.     It  has  not,  however,  been 
accepted  by  most  of    those  entitled  to  be  heard,  and  indeed 
Margry's  reputation  has  been  pretty  severely  handled  Margry-a 
in  general  by  those  who  have  tracked  his  historical  ''''"a'^t"'. 
methods.     Suspicion  has  more  than  once  arisen  both  as  to  his 
honesty  and  official  fidelity  as  a  keeper  of  records  held  for  the 
public   advantage.     Eminent  assailants  like  Major  and   Shea 
have  not  been  tender  in  their  blows. 

This  Ilistoire  makes  La  Salle  leave  the  spot  where  he  parted 
with  Dollier,  and  return  to  the  Iroquois  country,  and  pass 
thence  south  by  Onondaga.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  what 
water  route  through  the  wilderness  could  have  taken  him  by 
Onondaga,  and  various  conjectures  have  been  advanced  to  open 
a  probable  way  for  him.  Denonville,  at  a  later  day,  jy„^^^^ 
says  that  La  Salle  had  been  at  Niagara  in  1668,  and  ^Ts'iie's 
this  has  been  supposed  to  refer  to  his  passage  by  the  <=°"™- 
portage  of  the  great  cataract  at  this  time.  There  is  also  the 
route  which  we  may  conjecture  he  took  by  French  Creek,  and 
that  by  Chautauqua  Lake,  both  known  later  to  the  French ;  or 
possibly,  as  Gravier  holds,  he  may  have  gone  up  the  river  from 
whore  Cleveland  now  stands,  and  so  reached  the  Muskingum 
Kiver,  —  any  of  which  would  ultimately  have  led  him  to  the 
Oliio.  The  truth,  it  is  to  be  feared,  is  likely  forever  to  elude 
search. 

The  document  to  which  we  have  referred  states  in  addition 


.:nl 


mmmmmmm 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,   1663-1672. 

that  at  the  farthest  point  which  La  Salle  readied,  his  men  de- 
serted him,  and  left  him  to  wend  his  way  back  alone.  •  Where 
was  this  point  of  desertion  ?  Margry  contended  for  a  while 
that  La  Salle  had  reached  the  Mississippi  when  he  was  thus  for- 
saken. Parkman  thinks,  for  various  reasons,  that  it  might  have 
been  at  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio  oi)posite  the  modern  Louisville, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  the  descriptions  of  the  HUtoire 
stopped  by  cowhl  ajjply  to  those  rapids,  or  that  ho  could  have 
viewed  the  country  below  them  as  the  morass  which 
that  narrator  declares  it  to  be.  The  account  says  of  the  descent 
of  the  water,  "  Ou  elle  tombe  de  fort  haut  dans  de  vastes  ma- 
rais."  This  presents  two  difficulties  in  view  of  the  conditions, 
as  now  understood.  The  fall  at  Louisville  is  only  twenty-seven 
feet  in  two  and  a  half  miles,  and  those  who  would  reconcile  the 
statement  prefer  to  render  "  de  fort  haut "  by  "  after  a  long 
course."  As  to  the  vast  marshes,  it  has  been  suggested  that  a 
high  state  of  the  river  may  have  produced  "  drowned  lands." 

In  Marcel's  additions  to  Harrisse's  Cartorjraphj  of  New 
France.,  General  J.  S.  Clark  —  one  of  the  most  assiduous  of 
our  students  in  this  field  —  is  quoted  as  believing  that  La 
Salle's  course  was  in  the  first  instance  by  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  portage  to  the  \Y  bash,  which  La  Salle  called  the  Ohio, 
and  that  the  falls  which  stopi)ed  him  were  those  of  the  Wabash 
at  Logansport,  while  in  1671-72  he  went  by  the  Chicago  port- 
age to  the  Illinois,  descending  it  to  Peoria,  still  calling  it  the 
Ohio. 

In  what  is  known  as  Joliet's  larger  map,  made  four  years  after- 
wards (1674),  there  was  originally  no  Ohio  River  laid  down  ; 
but  a  later  hand  has  apparently  sketched  its  course,  and  marked 
it  as  the  river  "  by  which  the  Sieur  La  Salle  had  gone  to  Mex- 
ico." This  addition,  if  authentic,  would  confirm  La  Salle's  dis- 
covery of  the  Ohio,  but  would  not  settle  the  extent  of  his  trav- 
ersing it.  But  the  alteration  in  the  Joliet  map  is  awkward, 
and  General  Clark  is  not  alone  in  supposing  that  the  change 
was  fraudulent,  in  order  to  make  good  the  claim  for  La  Salle. 

Since  1862,  when  Margry  first  formulated  the  claim  for  La 
Salle,  he  has  found  some  suppoi'ters  and  more  detractors. 
Under  the  pressure  of  adverse  criticism,  Margry  has  ceased  of 
late  years  to  claim  that  La  Salle  reached  the  Mississippi  by  the 


MARGRY  AND  LA    SALLE. 


225 


long 


Ohio,  but  is  content  to  assert  tliat  lie  did  nothing  more  than  to 
follow  the  latter  stroani  for  some  distance. 

That  La  Salle  reached  the  Ohio  and  ])iirsued  it  for  a  while 
is  conceded  by  Parkman  and  others,  and  it  is  contended  that 
La  Salle's  later  memorial  to  Frontenac  (1677)  carries  a  certain 
confirmation  of  the  claim.  Dr.  Shea's  latest  judgment  left  the 
question  thus :  "  La  Salle  by  way  of  Lake  Erie  reached  the 
Illinois  or  some  other  affluent  of  the  Mississippi,  but  made 
no  report  and  made  no  claim,  having  failed  to  reach  the  main 
river."  This  decision  of  the  learned  author  of  The  Cathc' 
lie  Church  in  Colonial  Days  puts  the  conclusion  very  fairly. 


JOLIET'S  LARGER 
MAP,  1U74. 


If  Margry  has  wavered  in  his  position  as  respects  the  Ohio 
route  of  La  Salle,  he  has  persistently  contended  for  La 
Salle's  passage  to  the  Illinois  by  the  Chicago  River,  make^La 
and  thence  to  the  Mississippi.     That  he  reached  the  so^end  the 
head  of  Lake  Michigan  is  not  unlikely,  but  it  may      ^"^''pp'- 
be  a  question  whether  it  was  the  Chicago  or  St.  Joseph  River 
which   he   entered ;  and  it  is  still  more  debatable  whether  he 
reached  by  either  route  the  Mississippi  itself.     Margry  claims 
that  he  did,  and  that  he   descended  it  to  latitude  36°,  which 
was  far  enough  to  satisfy  him  that  its  course  thence  was  south 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  not  southwest  to  the  Gulf  of  Cali- 
fornia, 


226 


REORGANIZED  CANADA,   1663-1672. 


There  are  some  embarrjiHsing  facts  for  Margry  and  liis  ad- 
herents to  surmount  in  any  endeavor  to  put  La  Salle  before 
Marquette  as  the  actual  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was 
notorious  at  the  time  when  this  JUstoire  purports  to  have  been 


i 


I    '  ' 


I'.i 


JOLIET'S 

written  (1678),  that  Marquette  had  first  reached  the  great  river 
in  1673,  and  in  the  intervening  years  there  had  been  no  denial 
of  the  fact.  If  this  paper  produced  by  Margry  is  genuine,  it 
is  strange  that  La  Salle's  brother  and  other  kindred,  when 
making,  after  La  Salle's  death,  a  memorial  to  the  king  for  com- 


JOLIET'S  MAP. 


227 


pensation  on  account  of  their  kinsman's  services,  do  not  men- 
tion any  such  expedition  of  1G71. 

The  inference  is  hardly  to  be  avoided,  either  that  the  ques- 
tionable document  has  deceived  Margry,  or  that  he  knows  more 


0'' 


r&i-i 


SMALLER  MAP. 


of  its  history  than  he  cares  to  disclose.  It  is  unfoiJanate  that 
theie  is  any  suspicion  attached  to  any  paper  in  the  important 
collection  of  documents  which  the  United  States  government 
has  assisted  M.  Margry  to  publish. 


liEOROANIZED   CANADA,   lGOS-1672. 

That  La  Salle's  projects  had  failed  of  fruition  in  the  opin- 
ion of  those  who  know  the  man  .it  Montreal  seems  to  he  indi- 
cated by  the  mocking  name  of  La  Chine,  which  they  were  in- 
duced to  apply  to  the  estate  he  had  parted  with,  in  derision  of 
his  abortive  attempt  to  find  his  way  to  China. 


1 


CHAPTER  X. 

TUE  MI88I88II'ri  KEACnED. 

1673. 

There  have  been  opinions  at  times  entertained,  but  upon  no 
recognized  authority,  that  the  Jesuit  fathers,  Deguerre  in  1052, 
Drocoux  in  1657,  AHouez  in  1668,  and  Pinet  in  1670,  as  well 
as  a  priest  of  the   seminary   of  Quebec,  Augustine  Earivai- 
Meulan  de  Circe,  also  in  1670,  had  ^^Isited  the  Illinois  tu>JiA^ 
and  the  Mississippi  previous  to  the  expedition  of  Jo-  "'""'i'p'- 
liet  and  Marquette.     The  late  Dr.  Shea,  who  was  for  many 
years  an  ardent  student  of  everything  connected  with  the  fame 
of  Marquette,  long  ago,  in  the  Collections  of  the  IVisconsin 
Historical  Societi/  (vol.  iii.),  sot  such  stories  at  rest.     They 
apparently  originated  in  the  confused  brain  of  a  comparatively 
recent  and  irresponsible  chronicler  of  Catholic  missions  in  the 
west. 

There  is  also  a  story  (referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapter) 
of  some  exi)lorers  going  from  Virginia  beyond  the  AiieRedex. 
Appalachians,  in  1671,  sent  by  Governor  Berkeley,  From  vT 
under  the  direction  of  General  Wood,  "  for  the  find-  8'"'*'  ^'^^*- 
ing  out  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  the  water  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountains,  in  order  to  the  discovery  of  the  Sou^h  Sea." 
This  account  is  in  a  diary,  beginning  September  1, 1671,  which 
was  first  printed  in  the  Nevi  York  Colonial  Documents  (vol. 
iii.).  It  was  originally  sent  to  the  Royal  Society  in  London, 
and  read  before  it  in  August,  1688.  The  explorers  reached 
their  most  westerly  point  on  September  17,  where  they  marked 
some  trees  with  the  king's  name.  From  an  eminence  they  then 
saw  "  a  glimmering  light  as  from  water,"  which  they  supposed 
to  be  a  great  bay.  A  certain  Mohican  Indian  informed  them 
of  a  very  large  number  of  Indians  living  thereabouts  upon  a 
great  water.     Mr.  Clayton,  who  communicated  this  journal  to 


% 


li 

■ 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  167S. 

the  Royal  Society,  said  in  a  letter  dated  August  17,  1688,  that 
Colonel  Byrd  declared  the  glimmer  seen  by  the  explorers  not  to 
be.  a  bay  with  ebb  and  flow,  but  a  lake  then  (1G88)  possessed 
by  the  French,  who  had  "  seated  themselves  in  the  back  of  Vir- 
ginia," where  there  were  several  large  lakes  "  betwixt  that  and 
Canada."  John  Mitchell,  the  later  geographer  of  the  conti- 
nent, in  some  remarks  on  this  story  in  1755,  made  no  doubt  of 
its  truth,  saying  that  it  had  already  been  mentioned,  but  with 
less  distinctness,  by  Robert  Beverly  in  his  History  of  Virginia^ 
and  that  the  water  seen  was  probably  Wood  River,  as  it  was 
later  called,  or  the  Great  Keuawha,  as  it  is  now  named. 

This  same  journal  records  that  initials  were  found  cut  on 
trees ;  and  it  is  assumed  that  these  traces  were  left  by  earlier 
explorers,  who  had  been  sent  out  by  the  same  General  or  Colo- 
nel Wood,  as  early  as  1654,  and  that  their  visits  were  contin- 
ued till  1664.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  whole  stor"  has  no  suf- 
ficient attestation,  and  is  open  to  a  suspicion  that  the  incidents 
were  simjjly  intended  to  give  color  to  Engiibh  claims  beyond 
the  mountains,  of  earlier  date  than  the  t  rench.  It  was  used 
certainly  for  this  ]Hirpose  in  tracts  by  the  English  at  the  time 
of  the  treaty  of  1763. 

Mitchell  al?"  adds  in  much  the  same  spirit  that  a  party  of 
Alleged  ex-  Ncw  Euglaudcrs  in  1678  coursed  down  the  Ohio,  and 
NewKng™""  cFosscd  tlic  Mississippi ;  but  he  produces  no  proofs, 
laud,  1078.  though  he  asserts  that  it  was  the  fruit  of  such  exploit 
which  sent  La  Salle  to  the  Ohio  in  1680,  certain  Indian  guides 
of  the  English  party  having  later  gone  to  Canada,  and  accom- 
panied the  French  explorer.  Somehow  he  ignores  the  explo- 
rations of  La  Salle  in  1669,  which  he  might  well  never  have 
heard  of.  We  have  seen  that  there  is  the  best  of  reasons  for 
believing  that  Nicolot  had  at  least  heard  of  the  Mississippi  as 
early  as  1634,  and  that  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Grosseilliers,  in 
1659,  had  come  in  contact  with  the  stream  in  its  upper  courses. 

Parkman  seems  to  credit  a  map  which  does  not  indeed  show 
the  Mississippi,  but  gives  the  Ohio  to  a  point  a  little  below 
Louisville,  that  stream  bearing  the  legend,  "  By  which  La  Salle 
descended."  This  historian  considers  the  map  to  have  been 
made  before  the  voyage  of  Joliet,  and  that  a  small  section  of 
tlie  upper  waters  of  the  Illinois  which  it  shows  stands  for  the 
e^cploration  which  La  Salle  made  of  them,  in  the  year  following 


TALON  AND  DISCOVERY. 


231 


his  visit  to  the  Ohio.  This  woukl  place  the  map,  if  Parkman  is 
right,  early  in  1678.  There  is  a  legend  on  it,  which  shows  that 
the  maker  of  it  believed  the  Mississippi  to  flow  into  the  Mexi- 
can gulf.  Parkman's  conclusion  as  to  such  priority  is  disputed, 
however,  by  Shea,  who  claims  that  a  similar  map  found  in  the 
Paris  archives  was  drawn  by  Joliet  himself,  after  his  own  ex- 
ploration. His  inference  consequently  is  that  La  Salle's  exploits 
were  simply  added  at  a  later  day.  This  objection  has  not  in- 
duced Parkman  to  change  his  views,  as  they  are  repeated  in  his 
revised  edition. 


We  come  to  more  certain  ground  when  we  reach  the  indubi- 
table expedition  of  10  7  3,  There  was  no  cavil  heard  when  the 
State  of  Wisconsin  placed,  in  1885,  in  the  capitol  at  Washing- 
ton, a  statue  of  Marquette,  as  the  first  explorer  of  that  affluent 
of  the  Mississippi  which  gives  a  name  to  the  State. 

Talon  had  determined  to  signalize  his  administration  before 
it  closed  by  the  settlement  of  two  geographical  ques-  laionand 
tions.     He  had  sent,  as  we  have  seen,  Father  Albanel.  ""sco^ery. 
in  August,  1671,  to  find  an  easy  route  north  by  the  Saguenay. 
On  September  17,  the  priest  and  his  party  had  reached 
Lake  St.  John,  and  there  the  Indians  told  them  of  Aibinei 
two  English  ships  trading  iu  Hudson's  Bay.     When  ^°'' ""'*''• 
the  spring  opened,  the  explorers  pushed  on,  and  soon  found  an 
English  trading-house  on  the  shores  of  the  bay.     Avoiding  con- 
tact, they  erected  the  usual  pillar  of  possession. 

Charlevoix  tells  us  that  it  was  the  chief  ambition  of  the  in- 
tendant  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  great  western  river, 
and  this  was  Talon's  second  geographical  problem.    In  f^orV«"t- 
June,  1072,  Colbert  bail  written  to  the  intendant  that  ""  ""*""■ 
there  was  no  more  important  movement  to  be  started,  after  all 
efforts  had  been  made  to  insure  the  increase  of  the  colony,  than 
to  make  it  certain  tliat  this  great  river  of  the  west  flowed  into 
the  Gulf  of  California,  so  that  a  i)assage  could  be  opened  to  the 
South  Sea.     At  the  same  time,  this  French  minister  was  sending 
threatening  messages  to  Spain,  that  the  French  flag  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  could  not  be  disregarded  without  hazard,  as  if  there 
might  yet  be  a  conflict  over  the  mouth  of  this  same  river,  should 
if  prove  to  flow  more  directly  south.     The  English,  as  yet,  were 
hardly  observant  of  this  ambitious  aim  of  the  French,  and,  as 


1i' 


232 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  167S. 


II 

i 


Frontenac 
Rovenior, 
1G72. 


Talon 
rccfUled 


Coldcn  tells  us,  they  accounted  the  pushing  energy  which  car- 
ried the  Canadians  so  far  west  as  only  the  yearning  for  more 
productive  soils  than  Canada  had  been  found  to  possess.  While 
the  urgency  of  Colbert  and  the  hopes  of  Talon  were  thus  plan- 
ring  for  the  future,  Father  Dablon  returned  from  the  upper 
lakes  and  rehearsed  his  glowing  descriptions,  and  they  were  not 
without  effect  in  giving  shape  to  the  skirring  notions  of  the 
hour. 

But  there  was  a  new  and  vigorous  spirit  just  come  to  the 
ripening  task.  Louis  de  Buade,  Comte  de  Frontenac, 
had  been  appointed  governor  in  April,  1672,  even 
before  Colbert  was  sending  to  Talon  his  renewed  in- 
structions about  western  explorations.  Frontenac  did  not  arrive 
till  the  autumn,  and  Talon  soon  discovered  that  he  was  not  a 
man  to  his  liking,  and  had  time  to  transmit  his  adverse  criticism 
before  the  government  named  a  new  intendant,  and 
Talon  was  recalled.  Talon  was  not  alone  in  feeling 
the  dislike  which  Frontenac  soon  succeeded  in  evoking  on  all 
hands. 

The  new  governor  was  too  marked  a  character  every  way  to 
make  things  easy.  He  was  now  fifty-two  years  old, 
and  a  successful  life  as  a  soldier  with  honorable 
wounds  made  him  imperious.  His  blood  was  good,  with  a 
strong  dash  in  it  of  Basque  virility.  His  estate  was  ruined,  and 
he  had  made  an  unfortunate  marriage.  If  he  could  not  endure 
his  wife,  she  never  ceased  to  have  a  certain  pride  in  him.  He  by 
no  means  gave  her  the  exclusive  effects  of  his  prejudices.  If 
thwarted  he  grew  red  and  chafed,  and  he  made,  if  he  did  not 
find,  opportunities  for  his  anger.  His  will  was  headstrong. 
His  habits  of  life  were  extravagant ;  so  he  had  sometimes  little 
scruple  about  using  his  position  to  make  money.  He  was 
consequently  continually  confronted  with  disagreeable  allega- 
tions against  his  official  conduct.  He  knew  how  to  meet  them 
unblushingly.  His  language  could  be  at  times  as  full  of  acerb- 
ity as  his  heart  was,  whe>  he  was  aroused ;  and  his  conduct  had 
a  vindictiveness  by  which  ^  assion  sometimes  usurped  the  rights 
of  foresight. 

Yet  he  had  his  merits,  and  he  served  New  France  as  hardly 
another  could  at  a  trying  time.  He  was  vigorous,  robust,  hardy, 
and  when  necessary  he  could  draw  himself   up  in  grandeur. 


Prontenac's 
character. 


FRONTENAC  AND  EXPLORATION. 


233 


He  was  too  liberal  in  his  Catholicism  to  please  the  ascetics,  but 
whether  this  was  because  he  was  imi)elled  by  wider  sympathies, 
or  because  he  saw  some  gain  in  it,  may  be  questioned.  He  cer- 
tainly hated  the  Jesuits,  and  they  bore  no  love  towards  him. 
Ho  was  like  Talon  in  one  respect,  —  he  would  have  packed  the 
fathers  off  to  France  summarily,  if  he  had  dared  to  do  it.  The 
last  of  their  lidations  which  was  printed  announced  The  jesmt 
Frontonac's  arrival  in  Canada,  and  that  the  nublica-  ^'''"''»''« "» 
tion  ot  these  annals  then  ceased  has  been  char"-ed  ^'"'"'''• 
upon  his  influence.  His  quarrels  with  the  governor  of  Montreal 
and  with  the  Sulpitians  were  quite  as  violent  as  his  hate  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  it  was  only  towards  the  Recollects  that  he  was 
tolerant,  and  that  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  he  could  play 
them  off  conveniently  against  the  Jesuits.  This  enmity  of  the 
Jesuits  he  never  quieted,  and  it  played  a  fateful  part  in  his  sus- 
taining the  ambition  of  La  Salle.  He  could  be  an  Indian  with 
the  Indians,  and  the  priests  never  forgave  him  when  he  divided 
with  them  a  control  of  the  savage  nature,  and  welcomed  native 
children  into  his  household. 

Frontenac  began  his  administration  with  an  act  that  drew 
upon  him  the  reproof  of  his  king.  He  held  a  convocation  of 
the  three  estates,  the  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  commons,  and 
sought  to  mete  out  their  powers  in  a  community  of  government. 
The  king  was  prompt  to  disapprove,  and  the  whole  machinery 
of  the  government,  under  royal  coercion,  fell  back  into  the  old 
ruts.  Never  was  there  a  more  fatal  infraction  of  the  rule  that 
colonies,  to  succeed,  need  to  be  let  alone.  The  new  life  of  a 
colony  can  only  become  virile  by  self-reliance  and  self-asser- 
tion. That  ancient  policy,  always  lurking  in  church  if  not  in 
state,  has  successfully  cultivated  respect  for  absolutism  in 
French-speaking  Canada  even  to  the  present  moment. 

The  site  of  Quebec  had  impressed  the  new  governor,  as  lie 
approached  it  for  the  first  time,  as  fit  to  be  the  lordly  seat  of  an 
empire  of  courageou^s  men.  He  found  he  must  make  the  colony 
under  his  master's  wand  one  of  subservient  subjects. 
The  rebuff  turned  his  thoughts  from  the  scenes  around  tunlftT 
him  to  distant  fields,  and  he  set  his  heart  on  the  success  '''''°™"''"- 
of  exploration. 

Talon  already,  before  the  arrival  of  Frontenac,  had  selected 
Joliet  for  the  new  task,  —  a  choice  which  Frontenac  confirmed. 


IJII 


His  aims  in 
discovery. 


La  SaUe's 
doiugs. 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,   1673. 

This  leaclei."  was  now  a  little  less  than  thirty  years  (>id.     lie  was 
a  Canadian  by  birth,  a  son  of  a  wagon-maker.     lie 
had  been  edueated  under  Jesuit  influences.    A  passion 
for  trade  had  led  him  into  a  roving  life,  and  we  have  seen  that 
the  government  had  selected  him  a  few  years  before  to  discover 
a  new  route  to  Lake  Superior.     In  this  work  he  had  proved  in- 
telligent and  useful.     His  whole  career  showed  that  he  could  be 
faithful  to  his  charge,  without  evincing  in  any  way  exceptional 
powers  of  command.     Frontenac,  after  Joliet  had  started  on  his 
mission,  wrote  to  Colbert  that  the  man  had  had  great  exj^erience, 
and  that  he  promised  to  find  the  Mississippi  by  way 
of  Green  Bay,  and  that  he  would  probably  make  it 
clear  that  its  outlet  was  in  the  Gulf  of  California.     Dablon  at 
the  same  time,  in  reporting  to  his  superior  in  Paris,  counted 
upon  the  expedition  opening  a  way  to  China  and  Japan. 

La  Salle  was  absent  at  this  period  on  his  somewhat  obscure 
errand  in  the  direction  of  Lake  Michigan.    It  has  been 
claimed  that  he  had  traversed  the  Chicago  jjortage, 
and  had  coursed  the  upper  affluent  of  the  Illinois,  if  he  had  not 
actually,  as  Margry  would  have  us  believe,  descended  to  the 
Mississippi  itself.     As  he  did  not  return  t^  Montreal  till  Sep- 
tember, 1G72,  and  as  Joliet  had  left  a  month  before,  the  latter 
could  not  have  known  anything  of    La  Salle's  efforts,  unless 
they  had  met  on  the  way,  and   of  this  there    is   no 
record.    Joliet,  by  December  8,  had  reached  Mackinac 
(Michillimackinac,  as  it  was  then  invariably  called), 
and  here  he  passed  the  rest  of  the  winter  in  preparing  for  the 
undertakiuo-  and  deriving  what  information  he  could  from  the 
Indians  who  hung  about  that  post.     He  found  in  the  priest 
^Marqui'tte,  wlio  kept  the  mission  there,  a  prompt  and 
natural  sympathy.     This  Jesuit  was  eight  years  the 
senior  of  his  companion,  and  had  come  of  a  good  family  in  the 
north  of  France.     He  had  at  this  time  been  two  years  minister- 
ing to  the  vagabond  Hurons,  who  were  still  trying  to  keej)  to- 
gether under  all  sorts  of  adverse  circumstances.     For  five  years 
before  he  began  his  work  arjong  this  tribe,  he  had  had  divers 
experiences  at  other  missions.    While  at  St.  Plspvit,  he  had  come 
in  contact  with  wandering  bands  of  the  Illinois,  and  he  continued 
ever  after  to  harbor  the  hope  that  he  might  at  some  time  find  a 
way  to  settle  among  them,  as  they  had  exi)ressed  a  wish  to  have 


1072,  Dec.  8, 
Joliet  .^t 
Mackinac. 


Marquette. 


I 


MACKINAC. 


235 


him.     JoHet's  project  therefore  appealed  strongly  to  the  Jesuit's 
inclination,  as  the  intended  route  must  lead  to  the  Illinois  coun- 


#^?^^tei^iS 


'e^JhtiUQ^y 


MACKINAC,   1U88. 
[From  La  Hoatan's  Xouvenia  Voyages.'] 


try,  of  which  so  much  had  been  heard  in  pleasant  contrast  to  the 
deadly  heat  and  forbidding  monsters  that  this  people  insisted 


.  It  r 

I 


286 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,   1678. 


on  apportioning  to  the  lower  country  beyond  them.  Dr.  Shea 
holds  that  there  are  reasons  for  believing  that  before  Joliet  left 
the  settlements,  Laval  htid  picked  out  Marquette  for  the  ex- 
plorer's companion ;  but  the  evidence  is  not  clear.  That  Mar- 
quette did  decide  to  join  Joliet  seems  to  imply  that  some  higher 
authority  had  permitted  his  leaving  his  post  at  Mackinac. 
Marquette's  own  assertion  to  that  effect  is  explicit  enough  ; 
but  any  conclusion  must  certainly  leave  Joliet  as  the  recognized 
official  head  of  the  expedition. 

During  the  winter,  the  two  drew  from  the  Indians  informa- 
tion enough  to  enable  them  to  map  out  their  route  prospec- 
tively, but  this  map  is  not  preserved,  unless  indeed  we  have  it 
in  some  one  of  the  several  maps  ascribed  to  Joliet,  which  are 
known.  All  these  maps  have  usually  been  jilaced  after  his  ex- 
perience of  1G73. 

It  was  not  till  May  17,  1673,  that  the  party  set  out  in  two 
canoes,  —  Joliet,  Marquette,  and  five  companions.  It 
was  nearly  forty  years  since  Nicolet  had  started  on 
the  same  course,  and  had  been  the  first  to  enter  what 
known  as  Green  Bay.  Late  in  1669,  Allouez  had 
a  mission  on  its  west  shore,  in  the  midst  of  a  motley 
population  of  Indians,  a  strange  mixture  of  the  three  great 
stocks  of  the  Dacotahs,  the  Huron-Iroquois,  and  the  Algon- 
quins. 

This  "  Grande  Baye,"  perverted  by  the  later  English  to  Green 
Bay,  was  not  inviting  in  the  name  it  then  bore,  for  from 

Green  Bay,        i  i  •  i 

licii/e  lies  the  earliest  knowledge  which  the  French  had  had  of  it, 
they  had  m  the  Baye  des  P^ians  associated  it  with 
what  to  an  inland  Indian  was  an  odor  far  from  agreeable,  that 
of  the  salt  sea.  In  a  then  recent  Relation  of  the  Jesuits,  the 
writer  had  thought  to  account  for  the  appellation  through  the 
fetid  effluvia  from  the  marshes  which  bordered  the  bay  in  some 
parts.  Marquette  says  he  hunted  for  salt  springs,  to  see  if  their 
existence  could  have  suggested  the  name ;  but  he  could  find 
none,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  name  was  given  be- 
cause of  tlie  slime  and  mud  "  constantly  exhaling  noisome  va» 
pors,  which  cause  the  loudest  and  longest  peals  of  thunder " ! 
The  violent  and  almost  oceanic  storms  which  sometimes  swept 
across  it  might  possibly  have  been  sufficient  to  suggest  the 
name. 


1G73,  May. 
Joliet  and 
Marquette 
start. 


is  now 
opened 


JOLIET  AND  MAllqUETTE. 


237 


By  the  end  of  the  first  week  in  June,  1G73,  the  adventurers 
had  ascended  the  Fox  Kiver,  and  found  themselves  in 
the  country  of  the  Mascoutins,  the  Mianiis,  the  Kicka-  o.?ti>e"Foi 
poos,  and  the  Foxes,  —  the  latter,  of  all  tribes  which  ""^'''' 
the  French  encountered,  the  most  averse  apparently  to  Chris- 
tian influences.     From  among  tliese  tribes  the  party  secured 
guides  to  lead  them  across  the  portage.   It  is  another  proof  that 
Nicolet  had  not  passed  to  the  Wisconsin,  that  Marquette   be- 
lieved he  had  now  reached  the  limits  of  the  early  French  efforts. 
The  carry  they  found  an  easy  one,  through  a  level  region,  and 
somewhat  less  than  two  miles  across,  through  marshes  and  ponds 
filled  with  wild  rice.     The  Fox,  indeed,  at  the  point  they  left  it, 
was  but  five  feet  lower  than  the  Wisconsin,  and  in  high  stages 
of  water  the  current  of  the  latter  was  sometimes  diverted  to- 
wards Green  Bay.     Once  over,  and  parting  with  their  guides, 
they  launched  their  canoes  on  that  affluent  which  the  Mascou- 
tins had  said  would  conduct  them  in  a  west-southwest  course  to 
the  great  river.     Following  an  obscure  and  devious  channel 
through  a  growth  of  wild  oats,  they  only  extricated  themselves 
from  its  mazes  to  find  their  canoes  grating  upon  the  sandbars 
which  perplex  the  navigation  of  the  Wisconsin.     If  onthewia- 
such  were  their  perplexities,  there  was  much  about  "°"*'"- 
them  to  command  dieir  praise.     They  soon  ran  into  a  region  of 
rich  bottom  lands,  diversified  by  undulations  that  were  topped 
with  trees.     Festooning  vines  hung  from  branches  which  here 
and  there  flecked  the  gentle  current  with  their  shadows.    Now 
a  dense  copse  of  walnut  and  oak,  as  well  as  trees  that  were 
new  to  them,  stretched  along  the  bunk.     They  swept  round 
islands  in  the  stream  as  it  broadened,  and  saw  tangled  climbers 
bearing  down  the  imprisoned  bushes.     In  the  opens  they  espied 
the  roebuck,  and  encountered  singly  or  in  herds  "  the 
Illinois  oxen  clothed  in  wool,"  for  the  buffalo  had  been  ^"'^"'°"'" 
more  or  less  familiar  to  the  French  for  ten  years,  and  now 
roamed  in  this  region,  though  destined  to  be  pushed  beyond  the 
JNIississippi,  where  the  mature  man  of  to-day  can  remember  Iiow 
they  stopped  by  their  surging  masses  the  progress  of  railway 
trains,  and  compelled  the  steamboats  to  slow  up  as  they  swam 
the  waters  of  the  Missouri ;  and  where  the  child  of  to-day  may 
possibly  never  see  them  more. 

As  the  canoes  went  on,  the  sun  glinted  upon  fluttering  wings 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  1673. 

the  wild  rice  in  one  place;  and  a  rocky  scarp  made 
shadows  in  another,  where  cedars  caused  a  jagged  bristling  edo-e 
to  run  along  the  sky.  Marquette  calls  the  stream  the  Mescon- 
sing,  for  so  he  had  caught  the  Indian  utterance,  but  the  name 
was  later  made  more  liquid  in  the  Ouisconsin  of  Hennepin,  out 
of  which  our  modern  Wisconsin  was  naturally  evolved,  and 
fixed  at  last  by  legislative  sanction. 

It  was  the  17th  of  June  when  their  canoes  shot  out  into  the 
On  ti.e  Mia-  pai'cnt  current  and  they  were  afloat  on  the  Mississij)pi. 
They  sounded  and  found  nineteen  fathoms  of  water, 
and  they  might  well  have  believed,  had  they  suspected  it,  that 
this  mighty  channel  poured  to  the  sea  a  greater  volume  of 
water  than  all  the  united  rivers  of  Europe,  if  the  Vol<i-a  be 
omitted.  Not  forgetting  the  haughty  man  at  Quebec,  whose 
fortunes  he  felt  he  was  bearing,  Joliet  named  the  river  La 
Buade,  in  recognition  of  the  governor's  family  stock.  The  de- 
votion of  Marquette  to  the  great  dogma  of  his  church  scarcely 
allowed  him  to  recognize  any  but  the  religious  motives  influ- 
encing his  share  in  the  adventure,  and  he  fulfilled  a  promise 
which  he  had  formed  in  giving  the  great  river,  on  his  part,  the 
name  of  Conception,  —  with  something  of  the  fervor  which  had 
warmed  the  Spaniard  a  century  and  a  half  before,  when  he  be- 
stowed upon  it  at  its  mouth  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  —  a 
name,  however,  which  had  some  latitude  of  application  along 
the  gulf  shore.  Marquette  at  the  same  time  records  its  native 
name  as  "  Missipi." 

It  must  have  been  with  strange  and  swelling  sensations  that 
these  wondering  men  saw  tlie  night  fall  about  them.  On  the 
hand  a  range  of  high  hills  lay  darkening  the  declining 
dr.y.  On  the  other  tlie  light  of  the  dropping  sun  rose  from  the 
variegated  meadows,  and  gleamed  upward  from  cloud  to  cloud ; 
and  when  all  was  dark  and  the  stars  shone,  one  may  well  ima- 
gine tlie  immensity  of  the  hope  which  animated  them,  and  a 
sense  of  the  uncertainty  of  the  future  upon  which  they  had 
entered. 

Neither  Joliet  nor  the  priest  could  have  had,  in  the  then  exist- 
ing geographical  conceptions  of  the  interior  of  North  America, 
any  adequate  idea  of  the  vastness  of  the  valley  which  they  were 
aiming  to  acquire  for  France.  The  latest  geographical  conjec- 
tures were  shown  in  the  map  which  Sanson  published  in  1669. 


THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


239 


along 


Lake  Michigan  was  depicted  in  this  as  of  uncertain  extent,  and 
from  a  large  bay  on  the  north  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  a 
group  of  radiating  streams  drained  the  southern  part  of  the  val- 
ley, while  all  else  was  void. 

The  proclamation  of  St.  Lusson  two  years  before,  seeking  to 
embrace  a  region  that  stretched   between   bounding 
oceans,  north,  west,  and  south,  was   simply  audacious  grl^!^^ 
and  not  based  on  knowledge,  — the  immensity  of  the  "°'"='p'"""- 
area  would  have  appalled  them,  had  it  been  suspected.     Fron- 
tenac,  with  the  inheritance  which  had  officially  come  to  him,  had 
attained  perhaps  some  idea  of  the  half  million  squari;  miles  of 
territory  which  affoided  two  thousand  miles  of  navigable  water 
from  the  east  to  the  west,  in  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes. 
He  knew  that  its  dividing  ridges  bordered  upon  the  great  in- 
terior valley  beyond  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  and  again  at 
the  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  at  no  great  distance  from 
points^  which  missionaries  and  traders  had   reached   at   Lake 
Superior.     But  even  Frontenac's  imperial  eagerness  had  little 
conception  of  a  water-shed  five  times  as  large  as  that  whose 
waters  flowed  before  Quebec,  and  whose  central  streams  could 
conduct  a  canoe  to  the  sea  over  a  course  three  thou- 
sand miles  in  extent  from  the  country  of  the  Senecas  ;  "'*'»''  ^*"^y- 
and  over  another  of  more  than  four  thousand  miles'  from  the 
head  of  its  greatest  affluent,  far  in  the   northwest.      Thirty- 
five  thousand  miles  of  navigable  waters  converging  into  one 
in  the  midst  of  this  great  valley,  and  seeking  the  sea,  was  a 
wonder  that  exceeded  even  the  imagination  of  Allouez  in  his 
astounding  speech  to  the  Indians  at  the  ceremonial  of  St.  Lus- 
son, when  he  was  picturing  the  magnificence  of   the  Grand 
Monarch.     There  was  a  vastly  disproportionate  extent  in  it  for 
the  paltry  six  or  seven  thousand  Frenchmen  whom  Frontenac 
ruled  from  the  rock  of  Quebec,  and  who  were  to  be  made  the 
people  of  this  magnified  New  France. 

It  was  an  easy  matter  for  the  adventurous  explorers  to  go 
with  the  current  as  they  sped  downstream  by  day,  and  anchored 
away  from  shore  by  night.  Each  morning  early  astir,  they  were 
prepared  with  freshened  energies  to  come,  as  they  leisurely  pad- 
dled along,  within  the  range  of  new  surprises.  Now  they  saw 
a  formidable  fish.     Now  the  current  swept  them  round  bluffs 


ii;  »S 


II 


240 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,   1673. 


Isd 


I 


or  between  divided  islands,  fresh  in  the  early  summer's  diversity 
of  verdure. 

They  had  h  a  week  or  more  on  the  great  i'  er,  observing 
deer,  ei.u,  bison,  and  turkey,  but  they  had  not  seen  a 
sign  of  man,  when  on  June  25  they  espied  human 
footprints  on  the  western  bank.  A  well-used  path 
conducted  the  two  leaders  to  a  native  village  of  the 
Illinois,  where  they  were  welcomed  and  made  to  feel 
They  saw  French  cloth  on  some  of   the  savages,  and 


1R73,  June 
•2n.    TImy 
Bt'r  liuiuim 
tnickM, 
anil  H(Mt  the 
llliiioiii 
tribe 


safe. 


learned  that  intertribal  traffic  had  probably  passed  it  along 
from  the  French  traders  on  the  lakes.  This  people  told  them 
the  same  stories  of  demons  an  ^.angers  to  which  a  persistence 
in  going  farther  would  subject  them  ;  but  neither  the  trader  nor 
the  Jesuit  could  be  intimidated  by  such  lehearsals. 

Once  more  on  their  way,  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois 
nndti.o  ^^^  ^^  better  known  a  few  weeks  later),  and  wondered 
nunoia  at  the  mocking  castles  which  Nature  had  made  of  the 
stratified  rock,  and  gazed  upon  the  rude  strokes  of 
pigment  which  the  Indians  had  combined  into  a  demoniac  figure 
on  a  rocky  scarp  above  them. 

After  some  days,  their  canoes  were  tossing  in  the  broken 
Ti.ey  pasa  ^ater  of  a  muddy  current,  which  jjoured  into  the  clear 
theMUaouri  Mississippi  with  such  a  volume  that  they  naturally 
looked  to  the  northwest,  from  M'hich  it  came,  as  to  some  large 
water-shed.  It  was  clear  that  the  divide  which  held  it  was  to- 
wards the  great  ocean  of  the  west,  the  bourne  of  the  hopes  so 
long  delayed. 

They  learned  from  the  Indians  near  at  hand  what  seemed  a 
confirmatlrm  of  their  belief.  "  I  do  not  doubt,"  says  Marquette, 
*'  that  this  other  ocean  is  the  Vermilion  Sea,  and  I  hope  some 
day  to  be  able  to  follow  this  inviting  channel." 

It  was  the  commingled  currents  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Mississippi  which  they  had  reached,  and  tliis  flood  of  water  from 
the  west  convinced  Marquette  that  the  united  streams  must 
find  an  outlet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  was  to  be  a  hundred 
and  thirty  years  and  more  before  the  wonderful  interlacing  of 
the  springs  of  the  Missouii  and  the  Columbia,  and  of  the  La 
Platte  and  Colorado,  was  to  bo  discovered.  The  Indians  called 
this  singularly  intrusive  and  polluting  stream  the  Pekitanoui,  or 


THE  niUO  RIVER. 

the  muddy  river ;  but  a  little  later,  when  more  was  kno'vn  of  the 
tribes  which  lived  on  its  banks,  it  was  generally  kno.vn  as  tho 
river  of  the  Osages. 

The  adventurers  were  all  the  way  on  the  watch  for  other  indi- 
cations of  some  such  western  passage,  for  it  soon  became  more 
and  more  evident  that  the  general  direction  of  the  Mississippi 
was  towards  the  south.  A  little  later  on,  Joliet  says,  he  heard 
of  a  tribe  lying  only  five  days  away  to  the  west,  which  traded 
with  otliers  from  the  coast  of  California. 

They  passed  by  the  site  of  St.  Louis,  then  covered  with  for- 
est, and  as  they  went  on  they  occasionally  held  out  the  calumet 
to  Indians  whom  they  sav,',  but  as  yet  there  was  no  hostile  ac- 
tion  in  any  of  them. 

They  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  which  Joliet  calls  on 
his  map  the  Ouabouskigon, — a  name  api)arently  al-  „„jt,,g 
lied  to  the  later  Ouabache,  or  as  we  have  it  in  an  "'''"• 
English  guise,  Wabash,  for  this  stream  and  the  Ohio  below  the 
other's  mouth  continued  to  be  accounted  one  during  the  long 
interval  yet  to  ensue  before  the  placating  of  the  Iroquois  per- 
mitted the  French  to  follow  the  upper  reaches  of  the  true  Ohio. 

The  low  and  marshy  shores  which  bound  the  mouth  of  tliis 
branch  of  the  Mississippi  allow  it  to  mingle  its  waters  with  the 
main  current  with  less  impressiveness  than  is  suited  to  its  im- 
portance, and  add  a  sort  of  mystery  to  the  sources  of  its  capa- 
cious flow.  If  La  Salle  had  followed  it  from  the  Iroquois  coim- 
try  some  years  before,  there  is  nothing  in  anything  that  Joliet 
or  Marquette  say  of  it  now  to  lead  one  to  suspect  that  they 
connected  it  with  any  exploit  of  an  earlier  discoverer.  Indeed, 
in  their  maps,  they  fail  to  associate  it  with  any  previous  know- 
ledge. The  stories  which  had  come  to  the  French  of  the  sav- 
age onsets  of  the  Iroquois  in  this  direction  were  vague,  but  the 
unavoidable  inference  was  that  the  river  whose  mouth  they  now 
were  passing  was  the  theatre  of  these  rancorous  wars,  in  which 
wandering  Shawnees  and  the  confederates'  bands  met 
in  deadly  struggle.  Joliet,  we  know,  had  seen  a  Shaw-  raX?umg 
nee  prisoner  in  tho  hands  of  the  savages  at  the  end 
of  Lake  Ontario,  when  he  met  La  Salle  there  in  16G6,  and  he 
knew  that  the  prisoner's  country  lay  in  this  direction;  but 
since  tlien  the  implacable  Iroquois  had  driven  the  Shawnees 
from  both  banks  of  the  river,  and  forced  them  back  into  the 


iff  11 


■^1 


m 


if 


242 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,   K173. 


't 


Jf  I 


■  i 


I      "I 


"f 


.'  ,| 


tl 


1  ■    II 


valley  of  the  Teniiessco.  It  was  within  a  very  few  years  that 
the  Iroquois  had  tlms  Huccessfully  raided  this  tributary  valley. 
The  Arkansas,  whom  Jolict  was  soon  to  meet  lower  down  the 
Mississippi,  had  also  H.mI  before  these  su  .ago  (confederates. 
The  Illinois,  whom  ho  had  visited,  as  we  have  seen,  in  their  vil- 
lages west  of  the  great  river,  had  been  pressed  along  before  the 
saiMO  inveterate  enemies,  who  had  used  this  vallr^y  of  the  Ohio 
as  the  i.i'Mu  ehannelof  their  ai)proaeh.  Our  exploiers  eould  now 
have  little  8i:si)ected  what  risks  this  same  channel  was  to  opon 
to  their  aueces^ors  in  these  western  parts,  when  their  Indian 
allies  were  houndev^  to  ♦^Iio  death  by  those  same  tireless  foes. 

June  passed  into  Jul^    and  the  Freneh  canoes  were  still  pass- 
Juiy.  '"»   ""  ^^'^''^  ^^^  current,  by  marsh  and  wood.     The 

Indians,  who  now  and  then  confronted  them  on  the 
banks  were  more  inclined  to  bo  hostile,  but  the  calumet  never 
failed  to  appease  them,  thougli  it  sometimes  looked  as  if  the 
hazards  were  great.  Some  savages  whom  they  saw  oti  the  oast 
bank  had  guns  and  wore  European  cloth,  and  it  is  surmised 
that  they  hud  got  these  articles  diiectly  or  by  intei-mediato 
traders  from  the  English  of  Carolina  or  Virginia.  At  a  village 
ou  the  east  bank,  opposite  the  mouth  of  a  river  which  Joliet 
MoMth  of  iiiii'ied  the  Bazire  after  a  fur  trader  in  Montreal,  but 
tne  Arkan-  vvliicli  wc  kuow  US  the  Arkausas,  they  found  a  young 
Indian  who  could  make  himself  understood  in  the  Il- 
linois ton^ie.  From  him  they  learned  Uiat  the  tribes  farther 
down  the  river  were  enemies  of  his  people,  and  had  firearms 
from  Europeans.  They  raised,  he  said,  three  crops  of  corn  a 
year.  When  asked  if  they  had  ever  seen  the  Eurojjeans  who 
supplied  the  juns,  they  replied  that  they  had  not,  as  the  inter- 
vening tribes  were  always  able  to  prevent  their  reaching  them. 
This  savage  interpreter  represented  that  the  outlet  of  the  river 
which  they  were  following  was  a  ten  days'  voyage  farther  on, 
but  with  extraordinary  sjieed  they  might  shorten  the  task  by 
half.  This  led  the  French  to  think  it  nearer  than  it  really 
was,  for  it  was  still  seven  or  eight  hundred  miles  away.  Their 
almost  unvarying  southerly  course  —  for  the  bend  of  the  river 
one  way  had  always  been  met  by  a  corresponding  reverse  —  had 
rendered  it  now  hardly  susceptible  of  doubt  that  it  was  neither 
to  the  Atlantic  nor  to  the  South  Sea  that  they  were  tending, 
but  to  the  great  gulf  of  middle  Axnerica,  which,  if  their  infer- 


THE  CHICAGO  PORTAGE. 


248 


mation  was  correct,  placing  its  northern  shores  in  latitude  81" 
40',  was  not  far  tlistant.     Tlicy  had  tliuu  in  tift'cct,  by  an  infer- 
ence which  was  una  voidable,  solved  the  problem  of  the  great 
river's  course.     II*  tiiey  went  on  they  could  scarce  do  more  than 
conlirm  i\\hu-  belief,  and  they  would  do  it  at  the  risk  of  losinpf 
the  fruits  of  their  discovery,  should  they  fall  into  the  lianils  of 
the  Spaniards.     A  resolve  was  accordingly  taken  to  stop  at  this 
l)oiut  (which  Marquette  calls  33°  40'),  ani   return. 
It  was  therefore  on  July  17  that  they  rccailiarked  at  n.'^'They 
Akamsea,  as  the  friendly  village  was  called,  and  be-  ""° 
gan  their  arduous  ascent. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  follow  their  laborious  journey  back 
in  detail.  On  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  they  yielded 
to  the  representations  of  the  neighboring  Indiana,  that  it  would 
lead  them  more  direcly  to  Mackinac,  and  turned  into  A»cenatho 
its  alluring  current.  It  was  a  jileasant  <!hange  for  """"'*• 
the  weary  voyagers,  for  the  stream  was  placid,  there  was  attrac- 
tive shade  under  its  umbrageous  banks,  and  rich  plains  opened 
between  the  hillocks,  dotted  with  bison  and  deer.  They  tarried 
awhile  at  Kaskaskia,  —  not  the  modern  town  of  that  name, 
but  an  Indian  village  of  the  Illinois  tribe,  whoso  country  it  is 
not  alwaj'S  easy  to  designate  at  different  periods,  but  which  lay 
in  the  main,  after  they  came  back  from  over  the  Aiississii)pi, 
between  the  Wabash  and  the  banks  of  the  great  river.  This 
people  were  now  very  friendly.  They  tried  to  propitiate  Joliet, 
in  the  ho})es  of  securing  French  aid  against  the  Iroquois,  of 
v/hose  ravages  they  were  in  constant  dread,  and  towards  Mar- 
quette they  turned  with  wishes  that  he  might  abide  with  them 
for  their  spiritual  comfort.  Joliet,  with  that  policy  which  had 
actuated  him  in  naming  the  great  river  after  Frontenac's  fam- 
ily, now  comi)limented  the  governor's  wife  with  naming  this 
tributary  stream  as  the  Divine  or  the  Outrelaise,  which  La 
Ralle  later  was  to  supplant  with  the  name  of  the  French  'colo- 
nial secretary,  Seignelay. 

Going  on,  the  weary  voyagers  turned  into  the  Des  Plaines 
Kiver,  and   passed   the  elevation   which    the    trader  DesPiainee 
named  Mont  Joliet,  and  which  alone  of  all  the  names  '"^*''- 
bestowed   by  Joliet   preserves  his   memory  in  that  region  to- 
day.    This  eminence  lies  near  Joliet  city,  forty  miles  Ti.e Chicago 
southwest  of  Chicago.    The  stream  led  them  to  the  V"^^^- 
Chicago  portage. 


i1 


!*'. 


m 


H     iv, 


w 


244 


THF  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  1673. 


The  cutting  of  the  gorge  at  Niagara  had  opened  in  pre- 
historic  times  a  channel  for  the  outflow  of  the  upper  lakes,  in 
place  of  the  older  channel  by  the  Illinois  from  tlie  head  of  Lake 
Michigan,  where  there  is  scarce  eight  feet  of  rise  at  the  divide 
in  ordinary  seasons.  In  wet  seasons,  even  since  the  present 
century  came  in,  heavily  laden  boats  have  floated  from  the  lake 
to  the  Des  Plaines.  In  the  days  of  Joliet,  the  branches  of  the 
Chicago  River  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Illinois  interlaced  so 
nearly  that  in  ordinary  springs  the  portage  was  scarce  a  mile 
and  a  half,  and  was  obliterated  in  the  actual  waterway  which, 
in  very  wet  seasons,  existed  in  the  shape  of  an  expanded  lake.' 
It  was  for  a  while  in  ordinary  seasons  dead  water  on  either 
side,  ripiiling  as  the  paddle  stirred  it,  when  the  spreading  cir- 
cles  broke  against  the  crowded  stalks  of  the  wild  rice.  In  very 
dry  weather  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  carry  the  canoe  to 
the  confluence  of  the  Kankakee,  thirty  miles  below. 

There  is  no  clear  proof  that  any  white  man  had  preceded 
Joliet  and  his  party  in  the  passage  of  this  portage,  when  now 
its  practicability  readily  suggested  to  him  the  ultimate  making 
of  a  canal.  One  cannot  be  sure,  however,  that  some  adven- 
turous trader  had  not  preceded  them ;  and  we  certainly  find 
such  traders  at  no  great  distance  in  Joliet's  rear.  The  theorv 
of  La  Salle's  passage  of  it  the  year  before  has  already  been 
mentioned. 

Once  on  Lake  Michigan,  the  returning  canoes  found  their 
way  to  Green  Bay  by  the  end  of  September.  The  adventure 
had  cost  them  four  months  and  more,  and  they  had  traversed  a 
route  of  something  like  twenty-five  hundred  miles. 

Leaving  Marquette  at  Green  Bay,  in  much  need  of  rest,  for 
AtGreenBay,  ^c  had  bccn  gricvr  sly  ill  on  the  return  trip,  Joliet 
^^'^'  passed  on  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 

The  following  summer,  Joliet  took  his  way  to  Quebec.  His 
ir,74.  last  opportunity  of  showing  his  papers  was  probably 

at  Fort  Frontenac,  where  he  briefly  tarried,  and  where 
he  found  La  Salle.  At  least  such  is  Dr.  Shea's  belief,  though 
Harrisse  sees  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  La  Salle 
could  have  been  at  Fort  Frontenac  at  this  time.  That 
the  interview,  if  allowed,  produced  any  results,  is  far  from  clear. 
La  Salle  at  this  juncture  was  engrossed  with  his  trading  tours 
and  with  the  care  of  his  Seigneury  of  Cataraqui.     If  Denon- 


Joliet  and 
La  Salle. 


JOLIETS  MAPS  AND  PAPERS. 


245 


ville's  memoir  is  to  be  believed,  La  Salle  in  these  expeditions 
was  accustoming-  himself  to  some  of  the  affluents  of  the  Ohio, 
acquiring  that  knowledge  of  this  approach  from  the  Mississippi 
to  Ontario  which  was  later  in  his  mind  when  he  was  himself 
on  the  great  river  in  1680.  It  was  only  at  this  later  day,  when 
his  mercantile  speculation?;  were  at  a  low  ebb,  that  he  had 
begun  to  raise  visions  of  a  traffic  in  buffalo  skins  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 

Joliet  passed  on  to  the  St.  Lawrence.     All  went  well  till 
he  reached  the  rapids  above  Montreal,  where  his  canoe  upset. 

^ ^S' HUDSON 


Met  GiacvoXe^ 


/-£  Setw  be  /n.£x.j.<}acJi 


Two  of  his  men  —  one  an  Indian  from  the  Mississippi  —  were 
drowned,  and  a  box  containing  his  journals  and  other  j^^^^^,^ 
papers  was  lost.     He  himself  barely  escaped  with  his  p^p*"™  '"'*• 
life. 

Joliet  did  what  he  could  to  repair  the  loss  of  his  journals 
by  reviewing  his  recollections,  and  Frontenac  later  sent,  ap- 
parently without  success,  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  to  recover  the 
copies  of  the  lost  papers  which  Joliet  had  left  there  with  the 
priests.  Dablon  tells  us  that  Joliet  had  also  given  a  copy  of 
his  journal  to  Marquette  before  i^arting  with  him,  but  no  such 


mm 


n^ 


1 1 


m 


■tt, 


'1 


Mm 


iiJI 


246 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  1673. 


Records 

of  the  «x 
peditiun. 


transcript  has  come  clown  to  us.  Dablon  himself,  at  this  time 
in  Quebec,  had  apparently  talked  over  the  adventur- 
er's experience  with  Joliet  himself,  and  on  the  1st  of 
August  he  embodied  what  he  learned  in  a  communica- 
tion to  his  superior  in  Paris,  and  later,  in  an  amplified  form, 
it  was  included  in  one  of  his  annual  reports,  which  was  fii'st 
printed  when  Martin  gave  it  in  his  Mission  du  Canada  (1861). 
The  narrative  as  Joliet  fashioned  it  upon  his  recollections  is 
also  to  be  found  in  two  forms  in  Margry's  collection,  and  Har- 


MERSaJVorS 


''GolpK.G.  St.  V  f 


JOLIET'S  CARTE  GfefiRALE. 
[Sketcli»d  from  a  copy  iu  the  Parkinan  collection  (1081  ? ),  and  signed  by  Franquelin.] 

risse  gives  us  a  brief  summary  which  the  exj)lorer  offered  in  a 
letter  dated  October  10,  1674. 

Joliet  had  been  back  three  months  before  Frontenac  drew 
up  (November  14,  1674)  an  ofiRcial  report  upon  the  trader's 
discoveries,  and  it  was  doubtless  witli  small  ex])ectations  tliat 
he  forwarded  it  to  France,  for  during  the  summer  lie  had  had 
a  pretty  sharp  intimation  from  the  king  that  he  had  better  let 
projects  of  discovery  alone. 

Both  Frontenac  and  Dablon,  however,  made  the  most  they 
could  of  tlie  new  hopes  which  the  expedition  had  created,  — 
Dablon  with  a  more  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  case  than  the 


MA  II Q  UE  TTE'S  NA  lilt  A  TI VE. 


247 


this  time 
adventur- 
the  1st  of 
tumunica- 
ied  form, 
was  first 
a (1861). 
Bctions  is 
and  liar- 


27 


iquolin.] 

'ered  in  a 

iiac  drew 
!  trader's 
ions  tliat 
had  had 
better  let 

nost  they 

■eated,  — 

than  the 


governor  seemed  to  possess.     The  Jesuit  alleged  that  it  was 
now  proved  that  if  a  bark  was  built  on  Lake  Erie,  there  would 
oidy  need  to  be  a  cut  or  canal  made  at  Chicago  for  one  to  sail 
through  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  sea ;  and  if  it  was  not  for 
the  falls  at  ^'iagara,  tlie  vessel  could  start  from  Fort  Frontenac. 
The  governor  was  api)arently  nu)st  impressed  with  the  possibil- 
ity of  a  way  being  discovered  to  the  South  Sea  by  some  of  the 
western  valleys  of  the  Mississipi)i ;  hut  he  was  also  struck  with 
the  ease  with  which  one  could  pass  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  Gidf  of  Mexi(!o  with  only  the  portage  of  half  a  league  at 
Niagara  !     lie  urged,  in  consequence,  that  a  settlement  should 
be  formed  near  that  cataract,  and  that  a  vessel  be  built  on  Lake 
Erie,  which  he  thought  in  ten  days  could  reach  the  gulf.     It 
seems  clear  that  Frontenac  had  not  quite  understood  what  Jo- 
liet  had  comnuuiicated,  or  that  exjjlorer's  enthusiasm  had  spir- 
ited away  the  obstructions  at  Chicago.     The  governor  at  the 
same  time  sent  a  map  which  Jolict  had  constructed  with  such 
observations  as  his  memory  supplied,  and  this  has  come  down 
to  us,  being  first  introduced  to  scholars  about  ten  years  aco  bv 
labriel  (xravier  at  liouen.     It  is  jjrobably  the  earliest  j^^^^,^  ^^^_ 
map  to  define  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  by  actual  ""*'  '""?• 
observation,  although  Jolict  connected  it  with  the  gulf  merely  by 
an  inference  which  he  felt  he  could  not  avoid.     Mar-  ji„  ^^^^^,^ 
quette's  contribution  to  our  knowledge  is  more  im-  "^™''ve. 
portant  on  tlie  whole,  and  not  so  dependent  on  recollection  as 
what  we  learn  fi-om  Joliet.     His  recital  is  in  two  forms  as  given 
by  Margry,  but  it  was  originally  sent  by  the  priest  to  Dablon 
in  (Quebec.     Dablon  used  it  in  his  lidatloit,  and  sent  a  coi)y  to 
Paris,  while  the  original  seems  to  have  remained  in  the  Jesuit 
archives  at  Quebec  till,  some  time  after  the  dispersion  of  the 
order,  it  was  deposited  by  Father  Cazot,  the  last  survivor  of  the 
order  in  Canada,  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  not  far  from  1800,  whence 
it  was  transferred,  ap])arently  about  1842,  to  the  College  of  Ste. 
Marie  in  Montreal.     From  its  nuns,  Martin,  a  returned   Jes- 
uit, received  it  and  committed  it  to  Dr.  Shea,  who  i)ublished 
it  first  in  Englisli  in  his  Discovert/  of  the  Missisi<ipj,i  (1853), 
and  two  years  later  separately  and  in  the  original  tongue  (New 
^  ork,  1855).    It  had  been  prepared  for  publication  by  Dablon, 
.•qiparently  in  1G78 ;  but  had  remained  unedited  in  its  complete 
form  till  Shea  secured  it.     The  Mission  du  Ccmada  has  since 


248 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  1673. 


H 
O 


> 


MARQUETTE'S  MAP. 


249 


given  it  in  a  somewhat  changed  form,  very  likely  as  it  was  r©- 
ceived  in  Paris,  whither  it  was  sent  by  Marquette  at  Fronte- 
nac's  request.  Thevenot  in  1680  included  an  imperfect  form 
of  it,  with  curtaihnents  and  omissions,  in  his  Jiecueil  de  Voij- 
yes,  and  also  issued  it  separately,  and  it  is  in  this  shape  that 
it  has  been  used  before  the  present  generation,  and  was  made 
familiar  to  English  readers  by  Hennepin  (1698)  and  at  a  later 
day  by  Sparks. 

There  was  one  feature  in  Thevenot's  publication  that  deceived 
scholars  for  a  hundred  and  seventy  years,  and  thft  M.r  uette-. 
was  the  map  which  he  gave  as  Marquette's.  That  '""p^"*  ^^ 
editor  had  somehow  got  hold  of  a  contemporary  Jesuit  map, 

now  well  known,  and 
supposed  it  Mar- 
quette's.    It  may  in 
fact  have  been  that 
which  Joliet  had 
drawn  from  reoollec- 
"^■^--....„.  tion,     as    Dr.    Shea 
suggests.    The  genu- 
ine plot  was   discov- 
ered by  Shea  with  the  ori- 
ginal manuscript,  and   has 
ince  been  repeatedly  repro- 
duced. 
Marquette,    who    had    for    some    years 
dreamed  of  a  missionary  field   among  the 
Illinois,  and  who  had  welcomed  the  oppor- 
tunity which  the  companionship  of   Joliet 
gave  him,  was  not  destined  to  enjoy  a  long 
fulfillment  of  his  hopes.     He  had  lingered 
at  Green  Bay   on    his  return  till,  finding 
himself  in  the  sprinsr  of  1674  in 

MARQUETTE'S  GENU-    ,,.  ,.,.  ],       *?  ,     ,  1074.     Mar- 

iNE  MAP.  oetter  condition  ot  health,  he  organ-  <iuettc  re- 

ized  a  party  of  Indians,  and  with  li^oiscoim- 
ten  canoes  .arted  for  the  Illinois  country.  He  fol-  *'^ 
lowed  up  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  he  de- 
scribes in  his  journal  in  the  oldest  account  of  this  shore  which 
we  have  ;  but  at  the  site  of  the  modern  Chicago,  or  near  it,  he 
grew  sick,  and  found  it  necessary  to  remain  for  the  winter.     He 


250 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  REACHED,  1673. 


if.Tr..    At 

Kuukuskiik, 


was  elieerod  in  his  weariness  by  the  kind  attentions  of  every- 
body about  him.  Indian  and  trader  passing  that  way,  and 
hearing  of  his  prostration,  turned  aside  to  give  him  any  com- 
fort in  their  povyer.  The  spring  restored  his  strength  enoiigli 
to  give  him  eourage,  and  on  the  hist  of  INIarch,  1G75, 
he  })assed  the  portage  and  went  on  to  Kaskaskia.  The 
savage  eonnnunity  gathered  at  this  point  welcomed  him  as  a 
missionary  woukl  like  to  be  received,  and  he  turned  in  his  min- 
istrations from  hut  to  hut  amid  such  interest  as  he  had  never 
found  before  among  Indian  converts.  But  his  frame  was  not 
etpial  to  his  spiritual  energy.  His  strength  failed,  and  it  became 
evident  that  he  should  get  back  if  possible  to  more  civilized 
care.  He  started  on  his  way  with  some  companions.  The  party 
ti'ossed  the  portage  and  followed  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan.  On  INIay  19,  in  a  quiet  spot,  they  bore  the  prostrate 
May]...  man  ashore  and  left  him  to  his  devotions,  as  he  re- 
Dies,  quested.  In  a  short  time  they  sought  him,  and  fo'uul 
him  dead.  They  dug  his  grave  on  the  spot,  and  went  their 
way,  bearing  the  sad  tidings  to  Mackinac.  The  next  year 
(1G76),  some  Ottawa  Indians  exhumed  the  body,  and 

lGr,7.   Final-     ^  ,    ^\     ,  .  r  i.T    ^  -1 

ly  buried  at    a  mehuicholy  procession  oi  thirty  canoes  accompanied 

St.  Igiiace.  r  r^T  TTi  11 

the  holy  remains  to  bt.  Ignace.  Here,  beneath  tlie 
chapel  of  the  mission,  they  gave  him  a  last  resting-place.  Two 
hundred  years  later  (1877),  some  excavations  were  made  on  the 
spot  where  the  chapel  is  supposed  to  have  stood,  and  a  few 
fragments  of  a  skeleton  were  found  and  gathered  for  a  new 
burial ;  but  the  pious  act  was  not  consummated  without  doubt 
being  thrown  upon  the  identity  of  the  bones,  inasmuch  as  the 
uncertain  descriptions  of  the  position  of  the  mission  which  have 
been  preserved  do  not  render  it  cleiir  beyond  doubt  whether 
its  shrine  was  on  the  north  or  south  shore  of  the  strait,  or  on 
the  intermediate  island.  Father  Jacker,  who  performed  the 
act  of  reburial,  felt  that  he  had  sufficient  ground  for  his  belief. 
Allouez  was  appointed  (1G75)  to  succeed  Marquette  in  the 
icTf.  Ai-  Illinois  mission  ;  but  ii^tcrest  in  the  new  discovery 
ce"lisMur-  ^^'^^^  largely  (!eased  with  the  death  of  JVlarquette  and 
quette.  |.|^y  Withdrawal  of  Talon.     Tlic  petition  of    Joliet  to 

be  allowed  to  establish  a  trading-post  on  the  Mississippi  was 
promptly  negatived  in  a  letter  of  Colbert  to  Duchesneau,  writ- 
ten on  April  28,  1G77.  But  events  were  already  shaping  for 
new  scenes  and  new  actors. 


of  every- 
way, and 

any  coiii- 
li  enougli 
•ch,  1G75, 
■Mil.  The 
liim  as  a 
1  his  iniu- 
liad  never 
e  was  not 
it  became 
!  civilized 
rhe  party 

of  Lake 

prostrate 

as  he  re- 
md  fo'uid 
'ent  their 
lext  year 
body,  and 
ompanied 
neath  the 
,ce.  Two 
ide  on  the 
,nd  a  few 
or  a  new 
)ut  doubt 
Lch  as  the 
hich  have 
t  whether 
•ait,  or  on 
rnied  the 
his  belief, 
tte  in  the 

discovery 
[uette  and 

Joliet  to 
^sippi  was 
lean,  writ- 
laping  for 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CATAKAQUI   AND  CRfcvEC(EUR. 

1673-1680, 

Frontenac  had  conceived  the  plan  of  establishing  an  ad- 
vanced post  on  (he  northern  shore  of  Ontario.  It  was  partly 
with  the  expo(;tation  of  intercepting  the  Indian  trade  with  the 
English  at  A  ibany,  and  partly  to  bring  a  mart  for  skins  nearer 
the  sources  of  supply.  The  project  disturbed  the  merchants  of 
Montreal  as  likely  to  ulfeet  their  own  interests,  and  it  was  by 
no  means  satisfactory  to  the  Jesuits,  who  dreaded  its  influence 
on  the  Indians.  These  priests  were  even  accused  of  starting 
ill-omened  rumors,  such  as  an  intended  attack  by  the  Dutch,  — 
now  temporarily  ii  possession  of  New  York,  —  in  the  hope  of 
keeping  Frontenac 's  attention  occupied  nearer  home. 

The  governor  was  not  a  man  to  be  intimidated  ;  and  he  soon 
sent  La  Salle,  between  whom  and  Frontenac  much  1,-3  p,^,,. 
cordiality  had  arisen,  to  visit  the  Iroquois,  and  to  invite  .';"'T  """?^ 

,  C     1  .  .  Ill  ^  "iviut.     the  Iroquois 

the  contederates  to  send  delegates  to  a  council  near  *"  council. 
the  site  of  his  intended  fort.     Frontenac  was  aware  that  the 
recent  successes  of  the  Iroquois  in  diverting  the  western  trade 
to  the  factors  at  Albany  rendered  some  attempt  to  propitiate 
or  alarm  the  confederates  highly  necessary. 

The  governor  had  made  many  preparations  for  his  journey  to 
the  rendezvous.  With  a  large  array  of  guards  and  a" parade  of 
staff  officers,  Frontenac  left  Quebec  on  June  3,  1G73.  j,,,,^.,  ^^ 
His  leeeption  at  Montreal  was  hearty  enough  to  con-  J^'"'"''''''' 
ceal  the  real  feelings  of  opposition  which  pervaded  that  settle- 
inent,  and  when  he  left  that  place  to  move  forward,  on  June  28, 
it  was  with  a  considerable  increase  of  retinue.  He  had  about 
four  hundred  men  in  his  train,  manning  or  occupying  a  flotilla 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  canoes  and  two  flatboats.  The  pro- 
cession had  hardly  passed  into  Lake  Ontario  when  an  Iroquois 


'i    M 


l\\\ 


[■ 


A    I 


4 


252 


CATARAQUI  AND  CRkVECiEUR. 


c. 


July.    At 
Cataraqui. 


canoe  was  met,  bringing  letters  from  La  Salle,  with  guides  to 
lead  them  to  the  spot  on  the  northern  shore  which  had  been 
selected  lor  the  council.  It  was  the  12th  of  July  when 
Frontenac  disembarked  his  followers  at  Cataraqui. 
It  was  done  with  a  pageantry  which  animated  with  delight  the 
assembled  Iroquois.  On  the  next  day,  July  13,  Kaudin,  the 
engineer,  was  set  to  work  in  laying  out  the  fort,  which  in  a 
few  days  was  ready  for  occupancy.  La  Salle,  who  had  mean- 
while arrived,  was  put  in  command.  Frontenac,  who  knew  how 
to  gratify  the  Indian  pride,  made  everything  pleasant  for  the 
grand  council,  which  was  held  on  the  17th.  In  his  speech,  which 
formed  the  principal  feature  of  the  convocation,  the  governor 
said  everything  to  them  that  was  agreeable,  and  promised  them 
in  the  storehouse,  which  they  saw  in  progress,  the  opportunity 
of  getting  everything  they  wished.  He  did  not  forget  to  remind 
them  of  their  Great  Father's  power  to  punish  as  well  as  to  re- 
ward. When,  a  few  days  later,  the  parting  came,  and  the  Iro- 
quois started  to  cross  the  lake,  they  carried  with  them  the  con- 
ception of  a  white  man  quite  different  in  his  dealings  from  any 
they  had  hitherto  known.  Frontenac  had  vividly  impressed 
his  sturdy  and  emphatic  personality  upon  them,  and  it  did  much 
for  some  years  to  hold  them  in  check. 

The  governor  was  back  in  Montreal  on  August  1,  and  he  Lad 
time  to  consider  whether  the  10,000  francs  which  his  display 
had  cost  —  a  draft  upon  a  treasury  far  from  full  —  was  to  pro- 
duce an  equivalent  return.  To  insure  what  1h>  hoped  for,  he 
had  formed  plans  of  still  another  fort  at  Niagi«ra,  and  the  build- 
ing of  a  vessel  on  Lake  Erie.  He  had  written  to  this  effect  to 
the  king  in  November,  and  if  allowed  to  carry  out  his  plans,  he 
had  hojjes  to  bar  the  Dutch  and  English  effectually  from  the 
waters  of  the  ujiper  lak'^' .  He  had  already  ordered  the  con- 
struction of  a  vessel  on  Ontario  to  be  used  as  an  auxiliary  force 
Port  to  Fort  Frontenac,  as  the  post  at  Cataraqui  had  been 

Froutenac.  n^mcd.  La  Sallc,  at  the  same  time,  was  informing 
his  friend?  (November  13)  that  they  would  not  be  disappointed 
in  his  efforts  to  carry  out  all  that  Frontenac  had  looked  for. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  Frontenac's  powers  of 
controlling  the  Iroquois  were  put  to  a  test.  The  Dutch  on 
the  Hudson  were  thought  to  be  instigating  them  afresh.  Fron- 
tenac wrote  to  Colber*;  that    only  his  flatteries  and  presents 


LA   SALLE'S  GRANT. 


253 


to  the  Indian  chiefs  could  keep  the  confederates  quiet.     The 
prospect  was  not  better  when,  in  February,  1674,  the  1074.  New 
treaty  of  Westminster  restored  New  York  to  the  Enrr-  ?'"^'^"k»'" 
lish.  ^    ^"*"'"' 


Grosseilliers  and  Radisson,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
serving  the  English  at  Hudson's  Bay,  had  not  found  a  compli- 
ance with  the  rules  of  the  new  comi>any  agreeable,  and  had 
returned  to  France  discontented,  and  quite  ready  to  reenter  the 
service  of  Colbert,  if  he  would  pay  their  debts  and  provide  for 
the  future.     Both  returned  to  Canada,  but  Frontenac  was  not 
in  a  temper  to  dally  with  renegades.     He  had  rai,«ed  Frontenac-s 
up  too  large  a  number  of  recalcitrants  among  the  6,700  «"«""«."*'  * 
inhabitants  which  Canada  now  showed,  to  open  careers  for 
others.     He  had  leagued  the  whole  body  of  bushrangers  against 
him  by  his  endeavor  to  break  up  their  wild  and  independent 
systems  of  trade.     He  had  an  active  quarrel  with  Perrot,  the 
governor  of  Montreal,  who  was  their  avowed  abettor.      The 
Sulpitians  had  been  provoked  by  him,  and  thwarted  him  when 
they  could.     The  Jesuits,  if  their  accusers  may  be  believed,  did 
not  look  with  complacency  upon  any  system  of  organized  traffic 
which  shut  them  off  from  a  participation,  clandestine  it  may 
be,  in  the  profits  of  a  trade  which  their  missions  might  bring  to 
them.     But  Frontenac  got  some  relief  from  all  these  bickerino-s 
by  reverting  to  other  thoughts.     He  had  taken  Perrot  into  cu*s- 
tody,  and  had  sent  him  to  France  for  the  king  to  de- 
cide upon  their  differences ;  but  he  had  sent  over  quite  Baiit  goe, 
another  sort  of  man,  with  other  aims,  in  La  Salle,  who  "'^''^"'• 
had  sailed  in  the  autumn  of  1G74. 

It  is  said  that  La  Salle  had  been  pondering  of  late  on  Joliet's 
reports,  and  had  made  up  his  mind  that  the  Mississippi  must 
find  Jin  outlet  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  He  had  formed  this 
theory  not  without  some  ambition  to  prove  it  fact.  On  Novem- 
ber  14,  Frontenac  wrote  to  Colbert  that  La  Salle  was  a  man 
worth  his  listening  to,  and  so  the  king  heard  from  that  aspiring 
adventurer  a  proposition  that  Fort  Frontenac  and  the  adjacent 
lands  should  be  granted  to  him  as  a  seicneurv.  On  ,  ,. . 
nis  part,  Lin  balle  ottered  to  remiburse  Frontenac  for  "  f^""'*' 
the  outlay  already  made  on  the  fort,  and  to  maintain  a  garrison 
in  it.     In  recognition  of  the  service  which  he  proposed  to  ren- 


t^:ti 


i  i 


...  .,    1 


I! 


11 


254 


CATARAQUI  AND  CRpA'ECOiUR. 


dor  to  New  France,  he  also  solicited  a  patent  of  nobility.  Col- 
beit  acciiueacing,  all  went  as  well  as  La  Sallo  had  wished,  but 
it  became  noccssary  that  he  should  agroi;  to  rebuild  the  fort  in 
masonry.  This  was  settled,  and  the  weight  of  debt  which  this 
undertaking  drew  upon  him  was  not  riii  uniiaportaut  factor  in 
later  (instructions. 

The  tide  of  emigration  towards  the  St.  Lawrence  was  already 
beginning  to  grow  slack,  and  Colbert  suspected  that  the  six 
months  in  which  the  river  was  icebound  had  sou  othing  to  do 
with  it.  Accordingly,  he  had  already  infonncd  Fiontenac  1.  nv 
desirable  it  was  that  some  ingress  to  the  int-jrior  of  the  conti- 
nent should  be  opened  in  a  warmer  region  than  Canada.  If 
such  intimation  gave  Frontenac  some  heai"t  for  furlhor  explo- 
ration, the  king's  adjudication  in  the  dispute  between  him  and 
Perrot  was  not  equally  comforting.  This  tormentor  was  s  nit 
back  to  his  post  at  Montreal,  and  both  he  and  Frontenac  were 
given  some  sharp  reproof,  and  told  to  be  friends  for  the  future. 
They  equally  deserved  the  censure. 

In  September,  1675,  a  ship  arrived  in  Quebec,  bringing  four 

notable  persons.     The  conjunction  was  an   unhappy 

tember.  La-  cou^ minjxlinff  of  incompatible  natures.  One  was  La- 
val Diiches-  o       o  1 

nea'u,  Hen-    val,  returning  to  the  episcopate,  and  full  of  his  head- 

nepin  ami  ,  iiii«  i  ^       ^  •      i 

La  Salle  at  stroug  dcvotioii  to  what  hc  believed  to  bo  his  duty,  — 
not  unused  or  disinclined  to  a  militant  churchmanship, 
which  Colbert  and  the  governor  must  soon  deal  with.  Another 
was  Duchesneau,  Talon's  successor  as  intendant,  and  a  stickler 
for  his  rights,  the  more  vigorous  when  these  rights  collided  with 
what  Frontenac  conceived  to  be  his  own.  A  third  was  Louis 
Hennepin,  the  Kecollect  friar,  a  man  to  be  played  off  against  the 
.Jesuits  to  Frontenac's  content.  This  restless  priest  had  been 
smitten  with  travelers'  tales  from  his  early  youth.  lie  had  ri 
cently  been  an  army  chaplain,  but  was  now  eager  for  a  life  as 
hazardous  and  as  uncertain  as  he  could  make  it.  Tliere  were  on 
the  same  ship  a  company  t'  girls,  coining  to  seek  husband^  and 
homes.  They  grew  at  times  merry,  and  were  not  very  compia- 
cent  when  the  priest,  to  prove  his  holy  vigilaii'^e,  sought  to  cht^k 
them.  The  fourth  of  these  strange  companions  sided  with  the 
girls  against  the  RecoUect's  austerity,  and  Hennepin  certainly, 
in  telling  us  of  it,  does  not  expect  us  to  doubt  his  own  sincerity. 
This  defender  of  the  merry  damsels  was  th'e  austere  La  Salle 


LA  SALLE  AN.n  HENNEPIN. 


255 


ip(  k 


:J 


himselt".  Perhaps  the  buoyancy  of  hin  hopes,  now  that  he  had 
gained  the  royal  recognition,  liad  softened  liis  temper,  and  ho 
was  not  averse  to  makinp;  the  bishop  and  the  .Jesuits  hate  him 
more  than  ever,  since  ho  )   lew  the  gover;   ir  to  be  his  friend. 

In  1G76,  v,e  find  La  Sah.)  ot  Fort  Frontenac,  deeply  en<>a'     I 
in  increasing   its   efficiotn  v   .is   a   trading-post.      Ifo 

1  PTt*         T  n 

buir  new  walls  to  the  fort,  pi  mted  other  ludisades,  saiiontKort 
brought  cattle  from  Montreai,  an<'  laid  the  keels  of  *'"""*■"" 
the  vessels  whicli  he  dej). -uled  vqton  frighten  the  English. 
ISft'ither  '-  j  nor  Frontenae  was  quite  cJoar  y(;t  as  to  what  they 
might  venture  t'  undertake  to  the  westward.  The  king  was 
not  willing  to  weaken  the  older  settlements  by  such  western 
schi;iii"s,  aud  ho  did  noL  Hesitate  t<  enjoin  upon  Frontenae  his 
duty  of  being  mindful  of  the  royul  wish.  Frontenae,  though 
he  li  id  been  warned  not  to  carry  on  any  trade  of  his  own,  was 
known  to  Itavp  much  sympathy  with  La  Salle,  and  to  have  ..ent 
Raudin  t  »  Laki  Superior  with  presents  or  the  Sioux.  No  such 
transaction  could  escayc  the  J  uits,  and  what  the  Jesuits 
knew  they  shared  with  Duchesne,  a  and,  in  turn,  with  the  king. 
Front onae,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  let  the  court  icmain  in 
ignorance  of  the  s(>rvice  that  La  Salle  was  doing.  This--,  faith- 
ful subject,  the  monarch  was  told,  had  spent  35,000  livres  on 
Fort  Frontenno.  and  was  gathering  settlers  about  its  walls.  The 
two  or  three  small  vessels  which  he  had  launched  on  the  lake 
were  bringing  him  in  something  like  2o,000  livres  yearly  profit, 
as  mam  believed. 

Hennepin  had  f<  uid  oooupation  in  ministering  to  a  colony    f 
Iroquois,  who  had  come  across  the  iakn  and  had  sot  „p„„p  j„ 
up  their  huts  near  the  fort.     It  was  not  Iot^'^-  before  Jl."',",',^it'"' 
the  priest  felt  enough  at  ease  with  ilieir  language  to  "^"'• 
make  a  winter  pilgrimage  over  the  lake  into  the  confederates' 
o\v   country  (1677).    He  found  them  not  altogether  cli-satistied 
\s     1  tl'o  neutrality  they  were  no  -  maintaining  with  both  Frciiih 
and  Engi    li.     They  h;  d  recently  subdued  the   Amlastes,  and 
there  was  no  neighboring   ft)e      >   fear.     Their  ivvo  tl  ousand 
warriors  were  recuperating.     Thoir   raids  as  far  south         tlie 
borders  of    Maryland  and  Virginia  bad  harassed  the  ^\!lites 
ecpjally     ith  the  Indians  who  were  assailed,  as  such  incursions 
always  do.      Representativi^   of  those    colonies  had    come   to 
Albany  to  induce  the  Iroquois  to  fetter  sue]>.  roviuo-  bands  of 


hS- 


1 


■■i 

'I 


256 


CATARAQUI  AND   CliliVKCfEUR. 


their  young  men ;  but  tlio  trocaty  proved  little  more  than  one 
in  name.  La  Sallo  was  perhaps  induced  to  believe  that  his 
command  of  Lake  Ontario  and  this  wavering  of  the  Inxpioia 
nK.'ant  a  stay  to  English  schemiii;;,  but  he  counted  too  surely. 
There  is  some  reason  for  supposing  that  by  this  time  La  Salle 
had  come  to  expect  it  easy  to  open  j,  channel  to  the  Mississippi 
valley  by  the  Maumee  and  Wabash,  and  to  extend 
his  trade  beyond  Niagara  in  that  direction.  To  ap- 
pease the  Iroquois  and  keep  them  quiet  was  particu- 
larly necessary  if  a  portage  so  a''cessible  to  the  confederates  as 
that  of  the  Maumee  should  be  <ade  a  channel  of  commerce. 
It  i)roved  that  nearly  forty  years  were  yet  to  pass  before  the 
enmity  of  the  Iroquois  was  assuaged  enough  to  permit  that 
portage  to  be  used. 

With  su(di  dreams  floating  in  his  mind,  La  Salle  once  more, 
in  November,  1077,  embarked  for  Franco.     His  pur- 


Ln  Snlle's 
plniiR  of 
trade. 


1077.    Re- 

f'i"mw°   d   P"^*'  ^'^^  ^^^^^  manifest,  and  Margry  preserves  for  ua 
"'.'.'."uIm""'"^*  the  paper  in  which  he  outlined  his  aims  in  a  memorial 
to  the  kin":. 


tliu  king. 


He  professed  in  it  that  his  work  at 
Fort  Frontenac  was  intended  to  form  a  base  for  a  western 
trade  that  should  extend  to  the  Mississippi,  —  and  he  seems  to 
have  believed  that  this  river  flowed  into  what  at  this  time  stood 
for  Mobile  Bay  in  the  Spanish  maps,  —  where  buffalo,  wool,  and 
skins  would  make  the  staple  of  a  new  traffic.  These  peltries 
he  I'epresented  as  being  so  exceptionally  heavy  that  it  would  be 
much  for  the  advantage  of  the  trade  if  he  could  be  allowed  to 
pursue  exploration  along  the  route  which  Joliet  had  opened,  and 
find  the  mouth  of  the  great  river.  That  being  dr)ne,  the  trans- 
porting of  this  heavy  traffic  could  be  carried  on  directly  by 
ships  from  the  Illinois  country.  To  this  end  he  asked  to  have 
his  seigneurial  tenure  of  Fort  Frontenac  confirmed,  and  to  be 
allowed  to  establish  other  posts  towards  the  south  and  west  for 
the  spat  e  of  five  years.  On  May  12,  1078,  his  wishes 
were  complied  with  in  a  patent  signed  at  St.  Ger- 
main-en-Laye.  By  this  he  was  allowed  to  build  forts 
in  the  coveted  country,  "  through  which,"  as  the  patent  ran, ''  it 
would  seem  that  a  passage  to  Mexico  can  be  found."  A  reser- 
vation was  imposed  in  that  he  was  forbidden  to  engage  in  trade 
with  such  tribes  as  would  naturally  carry  their  furs  to  Montreal. 
All  this  enterprise  was  to  be  carried  on  without  expense  to  the 


1G78.     And 
gets  a 
patent 


LA   SALLE  AND   Till-:  JKSUITS. 


257 


crown.     La  Sallo  soeras  to  liave  called  successfully  upon  his 
relatives  in  Franco  for  capital.     What  wan  more  important  to 
hiui,  ho  secured  the  fealty  of  a  remarkable  man.      This  was 
Henri  Tonty,  the  son  of  an  Italian  refujreo  domiciled 
m  I'ariH,  whoso  tame  is  associated  with  tho  system  of  j"i"»  i* 
Tontine  insurance.     No  man  ever  had  a  more  faith- 
ful servitor  than  Tonty  was  to  La  Saljp,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
proofs  that  the  discoverer  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  had 
sometliing  in  him  for  a  loyal  and  courageous  man  to  respect, 
that  Tonty  became  r.nd  remained  his  fast  friend.     For  La  Salle 
had  not  learned  to  make  as  many  friends  as  a  man  of   his 
ambition  needed,  and  ho  was  often  found  insupportably  harsh 
and  haughty.      This  want  of  tact,  fatal  in  great  enterprises, 
as  La  Salle  found  to  his  cost,  has  given  some  warrant  for  the 
opinion,  which,  for  instance.  Dr.  Shea  has  zealously  entertained, 
that  La  Salle  was  an  incapable  leader,  and  has  been  La  s«iio'» 
prodigiously  overrated  for  his  services.    Such  opinions  ""'".fewit 
are,  it  must  be  confessed,  not  wholly  free  from  the  «""P"t''y- 
prejudices  which  have  been  sent  down  to  us  by  Jesuit  antipa- 
thies.   La  Salle  on  his  part  was  no  lenient  judge  of  that  order, 
and  he  was  prone  to  find  ulterior  and  sinister  purjjoses  in  all 
they  did.     lie  supposed  their  zeal  in  thwarting  him  in  his  pro- 
jects was  a  wish  to  bar  all  laymen  from  having  influence  among 
the  Indians,  and  to  establish  such  an  exclusive  system  in  New 
France  as  had  been  forn?ed  by  them  in  Paraguay. 

It  was  in  August,  1G78,  that  La  Salle  sailed  from  Rochelle. 
lie  was  accompanied  by  Tonty,  and  they  took  with 
them  shipwrights  and  mechanics.     Their  shipments  K<i8t.'  l» 
included  anchors,  sails,  and  cordage  for  a  vessel  which  for  Quebec, 
wus  to  be  built  on  Lake  Erie.     They  reached  Que-  FortFroute- 
bec  in  September,  and  there  found  Hennepin  awaiting 
their  arrival.     The  priest  was  soon  ."  nt  ahead  to  prepare  mat- 
ters at  Fort  Frontenac,  and  after  an  interview  with  the  gov- 
ernor La  Salle  followed.    During  this  interval,  it  was  arranged 
that  a  party  should  go  in  advance  to  trade  and  collect  food  in 
the  Illinois  country,  and  prepare  for  the  reception  of  La  Salle, 
who  might  lye  expected  the  next  year.     La  Mothe  and  Hen- 
nepin were  at  once  disi)atched  in  a  small  vessel  to  Niagara  and 
Niagara,  and  a  fort  was  i)lanned  at  the  mouth  of  that  "'^  senecas. 
river.     It  was   soon  a])parent    that  the  neighboring  Senecas 


:l    ,1 


258 


CA  TAR  A  QUI  AND   CIlkVECOEUR. 


tlFB  f  I 


,:  :  f  ;i 


La  Salle 
among  the 
Senecaa. 


felt  uneasy  at  such  signs  of  occupation.  They  were  carry- 
ing on  a  hicrative  trade  as  middlemen  between  tlie  more  distant 
tribes  and  the  English  at  Albany,  and  they  saw  in  the  movements 
of  the  French  an  attempt  to  prevent  such  commerce.  Therefore 
La  Mothe  and  liis  companion  visited  the  nearest  Seneca  village 
to  make  explanations.  They  were  kindly  received,  and  an  In- 
dian prisoner  was  burned  for  their  enjoyment.  They  in  turn 
outlined  a  plan  of  opening  eonnnunieation  with  Europe  througli 
the  great  I'iver,  so  that  goods  could  be  brought  with  less  ex- 
pense, and  could  be  sold  cheaper  than  it  was  possible  with  tlie 
English.  Their  argument  availed  little,  and  the  Frenchmen 
returned  to  camp  with  small  encouragement.  Meanwhile  La 
Salle  was  coasting  along  the  southern  shore  of  Oiitario, 
and  on  his  way  he  visited  the  same  village,  which  was, 
in  fact,  the  identical  one  where  he  had  in  vain  sought 
a  guide  ten  years  before.  He  was  more  successful  than  his 
precursors  had  been,  and  succeeded,  as  he  thought,  in  making  the 
tribe  content  with  his  projects.  So  with  better  heart  he  went 
on  to  Niagara  and  joined  La  Mothe,  whom  he  found  encamped 
near  the  Niagara  rapids.  La  Salle,  accompanied  by  Tonty, 
was  soon  on  his  v/ay  to  discover  beyond  the  cataract  a  suitable 
„  ,   ^  spot  tc  lay  the  keel  of  his  intended  vessel.     There  has 

Biiipvaid  on  been  some  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  precise  spot 
which  he  selected,  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was 
just  within  or  possibly  on  one  side  of  tlic  mouth  of  Cayuga 
Creek,  where  an  island  lying  off  the  shore  diverts  part  of  the 
current  towards  the  easterly  bank  of  tlie  river.  Mr.  O.  H. 
IVLarshall  of  Buffalo,  whose  name  is  connected  with  many  care- 
ful studies  of  the  history  of  tlie  Niagara  region,  first  pointed  out 
(1845)  this  spot  as  answering  best  the  conditions  of  tlie  con- 
temporary narratives.  Schoolcraft  gave  Mr.  Marshall's  views 
currency  two  years  later,  and  they  are  now  generally  accepted. 
Though  there  is  some  disagreement  as  to  the  precise  spot,  there 
is  none  as  to  the  general  location. 

It  had  already  been  found  tliat  the  portage  around  the  cata- 
ract was  not  so  favorable  on  the  western  side,  and  in 

.innuary,  ' 

ic.Ti).  "riaiis  the  latter  i)art  of  January,  1G79,  the  partv  bejjan  to 

for  building  ^  ^  •'  '  1  .'  a 

tiie"Gii£-     carry  the  material  which  th(>y  had  brouoht  from  Fort 

Ion."  ''  JO 

Frontenac  up  the  ste(>p  which  leads  to  the  plateau  of 
the  Niagara  gorge,  and  to  b(>ar  it  along  the  i>ortag(^  track  for 


BUFFALOES. 


259 


! 

1 

\ 

];! 

n 

'.  I  li 


I! 

SI 

f! 
fi 

l! 


HI 


i  1 

'      '1 

ii 

j. 

1 

1 

^1 

W' 


ti  :     ! 


260 


CATARAQUI  AND   CRkVECCEUR. 


La  Salle  at 
Fort  Frou- 
tenac. 


twelve  miles.  It  was  not  all  the  material  they  had  hoped  to 
have,  for  after  La  Salle  had  left  his  vessel  on  the  lake  to  make 
by  land  the  latter  part  of  his  way  to  La  Mothe's  camp,  the  craft 
encountered  bad  weather  and  was  wrecked.  Fortunately,  they 
saved  the  anchors  and  cables  intended  for  the  new  vessel,  and 
it  was  under  the  burden  of  these,  with  some  rejoicing  over  their 
good  fortune  in  saving  so  much,  that  the  party  now  struggled 
along  the  portage  of  the  falls.  The  new  vessel  was  planned  to 
be  about  fifty  tons  burden,  as  we  should  now  reckon,  and  the 
keel  being  laid.  La  Salle  himself  drove  the  first  bolt.  Putting 
the  charge  of  the  construction  upon  Tonty,  La  Salle  returned 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  he  began  the  construction 
of  a  block-house.  This  well  starteil,  he  undertook  with  a  few 
companions  to  find  his  way  back  to  Fort  Frontenac  by  land 
through  the  Iroquois  country.  He  had  to  cross  the 
eastern  end  of  the  lake  on  the  ice,  and  reached  his 
destinatif>n  exhausted  and  famished.  Jle  was  in  poor 
condition  to  **neounter  the  aggravated 
attacks  which  his  creditors  were  makino" 
upon  his  character,  and  to  avoid  the 
embarrassments  v:5th  which  his  enemies 
sought  to  entangle  his  projects.  It  has 
been  said  that  La  Salle's  creditors  had 
already  seized  his  property,  but  Kings- 
ford,  the  latest  Canadian  investigator, 
can  find  no  evidence  of  actual  seizure. 

While  La  Salle  was  gone,  Tonty  pushed 
the  ship  well  on  toward  completion, 
but  with  constant  apjirehension  that  the 
Senecas  might  l)urn  her  on  the  stocks. 
These  Indians  hardly  concealed  their 
hostility,  and  could  not  be  induced  to 
sup])ly  the  camp  with  food,  so  that  two 
Mohegan  Indians  whom  the  French  had 
with  them  were  kept  out  to  hunt  for 
game.  By  May  tin-  vessel  was  ready 
to  launch.  Once  afloat,  she  was  towed 
[The"  Griffon  "wasbuiit  near  the  jnto  the  Stream  and  anchored.     It  was 

mouth  of  Cayuga  Creek.]  lu      n      ,  i.   \  «      M  i  i      i    i      i 

the  first  moment  her  builders  had  liad 
when  they  felt  secure  from  possible  mischief  on  the  part  of  the 


NIAGARA  RIVKR. 


\^ 


NIAGARA   FALLS. 


261 


Indiaus.    The  savages  could  now  prowl  about  and  look  on  with 
wonder   without   exciting   apprehension.      Frontenac  j^-a  m, 
bore  as  supporters  to  his  arms  two  griffins,  and  the  Ti!e'"'G'df- 
workmen  had  carved  the  figure  of  one  and  placed  it  p'"'"'!^'"" 
at  the  prow.     They  had  given,  indeed,  to  the  ship  the  corre- 
sponding name  of  "  Griffon."     She  was  pierced  for  five  guns, 
and  the  little  pieces  grinned  ominously  from  their  ports. 

The  fitting  and  rigging  of  the  vessel  went  on,  and  when  it 
was  nearly  complete  Tonty  started  ahead  (July  22) 
with  a  small  party  to  the  outlet  of  the  Detroit  River.  Ko«^«h^e°ad!^ 


HEXXEI'IX'S   VIEW   OF   NIAGARA   FALLS, 

[From  the  Nouvelle  Dicourerte,  Utrecht,  1G07.    The  cut  in  this  edition  shows  the  "Griffon" 

ou  Lake  Erie.] 

A  few  davH  lat^-r,  La  Salle  arrived  from  Fort  Frontenac,  where 
he  had  made  the  best  arrang^^ient  of  his  affairs  which  was  pos- 
sil.tp,  and  brought  with  him  the  priest  Membre,  whose  journal 
is  to  1  elp  our  narrative  hen<;eforward, 

Eaily  in  August,  the  "  Griffon  '"  was  made  ready  for  a  start, 
and  amid   a   discharge  of  guns,  ani  with  the  crew 
chanting  the   Te  Denm,  «he  was  towed  against  the  ^Su'^'''' 
current  till  she  could  btaa-  away  with  spread  canvas  ^^^^' 


i'i    I 


i  I : 


%  ; 

Bill    - 


ii.jJ 


fel  \%A 


Ii'  I 


I 


262 


CATAIiAQUI  AND   CREVECQiUR. 


upon  the  waters  of  Luke  Erie.  Three  days  later  (August  10"), 
La  Salle  saw  the  three  columns  of  smoke  which  Tonty  gave  s 
a  signal  at  the  Detroit  Kiver,  and  took  his  staunch  friend  .nd 
companions  on  board.  Passing  up  the  straits,  with  green  slopes 
and  verdant  gi'oves  on  either  hand,  they  crossed  on  Ste.  Clare's 
day  the  expansion  of  the  stream  which  now  bears  a  similar  but 
perverted  name  (Lake  St.  Clair),  and  on  the  23d  the  "  Griffon  " 
Oil  Lake  '^^^'^  bouuding  over  the  waves  of  Lake  Huron.  The 
Huron.  wind  was  rapidly  freshening,  and  the  flying  vapors 
drove  in  upon  her  course.  It  grew  to  a  gale,  and  the  green 
timbers  of  the  ship  creaked  ominously.  Vows  were  made  to 
St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  and  as  the  seas  broke  over  them  hope 
was  nearly  abandoned.  The  crazy  ship,  however,  rode  out  the 
J^^^  St  storm,  and  on  the  27th  she  rounded  to  under  the  point 

igiiiice.  p£  c;^_  Ignace,  and  droi)ped  anchor  in  its  quiet  shelter. 

Here  the  strange  community  gathered  within  the  palisades  of  the 
Jesuit's  house,  and  scattered  through  the  startled  Indian  village, 
poured  out  upon  the  strand.  Presently  a  hundred  canoes  were 
hovering  about  the  weird  and  appalling  "  Griffon."  La  Salle, 
robed  in  scarlet  and  gold,  landed  with  his  companions,  and 
heard  mass  in  the  bark  chapel  of  the  mission.  This  over,  he 
lingered  long  enough  among  the  huts  of  the  village  to  discover 
that  mischief  was  brewing.  Some  of  the  party  which  he  had 
sent  forward,  as  we  have  seen,  to  trade  among  the  Illinois,  had 
preferred  to  linger  hereabouts,  and  were  scattered  among  the 
bushrangers,  who  were  loitering  away  their  time  in  the  indul- 
gences of  this  frontier  life.  These  faithless  pioneers  had  im- 
bibed something  of  the  distrust  and  enmity  which  existed  in 
this  wild  community  against  any  organized  method  of  trade, 
and  were  plotting  sedition  against  their  leader.  La  Salle 
caused  the  arrest  of  a  few,  and  sent  a  party  to  the  Sault  to 
seize  some  who  had  wandered  thither.  Such  peremptory  de- 
mands on  La  Salle's  part  might  stifle,  but  they  did  not  eradi- 
cate, the  poisonous  opposition  whicli  his  presence  created. 

Arranging  for  the  coming  back  of  the  "  Griffon  "  from  Green 
P)ay  to  Mackinac,  whence  she  was  to  return  to  Niagara  with 
such  furs  as  coidd  be  gathered,  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  his 
creditors.  La  Salle  set  sail  once  more  on  her  for  his  destination. 
At  Green  Bay,  he  found  other  of  his  men,  and  they  had  secured 
a  welcome  store  of   peltries.     He   seemed  to  forget  that  the 


THE  "GRIFFON." 


263 


;ust  in\ 
gave  s 
end  .ncl 
;ii  slopes 
.  Clare's 
lilar  but 
Griffon  " 
.n.     The 


shipment  of  them  would  expose  him  to  the  charge  of  having 
traffic  with  the  Ottawas,  whose  trade  his  commission  warned 
him  not  to  divert  from  MoDtreal.  Hennepin  tells  us  that  in 
determining  to  send  the  "  Griffon  "  back  with  these  furs,  La 
Salle  did  not  deign  to  consult  with  any  one.  The  act  was  sure  to 
turn  against  liim  any  traders  at  Mackinac  who  were  not  already 
estranged.  But  La  Salle  never  looked  far  ahead  for  the  effects 
of  any  indiscretion. 

On  September  18,  La  Salle  saw  the  "  Griffon,"  thus  laden 
with  an  ill-gotten  booty,  sail  out  of  Green  Bay  on  her 
way  to  Mackinac  and  Niagara.     There  were  a  pilot,  a  J«  'tiT" 
business  agent,  and  five  other  men  on  boar  1.     She  saiis'from 
directed  her  course  to  the  northeast,  and  was  seen  no     '^"^^  ''^' 
more.     La  Salle's  mind  was  soon  made  uneasy  when  a  gale 
arose  and  swept  along  the  course  of  the  ship.     The  people  at 
St.  Ignace  felt  it,  and  feared  the  little  vessel  might  be  buffeting 
its  violence.     The  storm  passed,  and  while  the  sun  shone,  priest 
and  trader  at  Mackinac  began  to  peer  up  the  straits  for  the 
white  sail  that  was  never  to  come. 

In  all  probability  the  "  Griffon  "  foundered  in  the  gale,  and 
no  one  survived  to  tell  the  tale.  There  were  stories  of  foul  play, 
of  Indians  boarding  her  and  m  urdering  the  crew,  and  of  a  faith- 
less pilot,  who  ran  her  ashore  and  endeavored  to  escape  with 
his  plunder,  but  only  to  be  stricken  down  by  the  savages,  — 
but  there  is  no  evidence  to  substantiate  any  of  them.  La  Salle 
indeed,  at  a  later  day,  Ly  talking  with  a  Pana  Indian,  whom  he 
represents  as  coming  from  a  region  two  hundred  leagues  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  was  satisfied  that  the  youth  had  seen  the  pilot 
of  the  "  Griffon,"  whom  his  peoi)le  had  captured  while  he  was 
on  the  Misfiissippi,  endeavoring  to  reach  Duluth  in  the  Sioux 
country.  La  Salle  was  led  to  believe  that  if  the  renegade  missed 
Duluth  he  was  intending  to  go  to  the  English  at  Hudson's  Bay. 
I^a  Salle  was  confident  also  that  to  reach  the  spot  where  he  was 
captured,  he  must  have  passed  near  the  Jesuit  stations  on  Green 
Bay,  nnd  its  priests  were  accordingly  not  so  ignorant  of  the  fate 
of  t'lo  vc-rcl  as  they  pretended. 

The  iil-fated  ship  out  of  sight,  La  Salle  was  soon  on  his  way 
up  Lake  Michigan  toward  the  southern  portages.  He  sent 
Tonty  and  a  party  across  the  lake,  with  instructions  to  follow 
up  the  eastern  shore  of  Michigan,  and  to  join  his  leader  at  St. 
Joseph. 


i  Br 


mnn 


1 


p 


i  i  ? 


II! 


r:    tl 


264 


CATARAQUI  AND  CRkVEC(EUR. 


La  Salle  himself  led  a  pnvty  of  fourteen  in  four  canoes,  by 
the  western  shore.  The  way  proved  perilous.  His  canoes  were 
too  deeply  laden  with  forges  and  tools  to  buffet  easily  the  gales 
they  encountered,  and  their  food  gave  out.  Unless  the  shore 
Indians  had  supplied  them  with  corn  they  would  have  perished, 
and  there  was  a  village  of  Maskoutens  and  Outagamies  at  the 
river  Melleold  (Milwaukee)  which  proved  hospitable.  They 
were  glad  at  one  point  to  feast  on  the  carcass  of  a  deer  which 
they  rescued  from  the  crows.  Their  Mohegans  hunted  to  keep 
them  in  food,  a*  they  had  done  at  Niagara.  They  discovered 
some  wild  grapes,  —  an  unexpected  feast.  They  found  some- 
times that  their  camp  was  robbed  by  lurking  savages  while  they 
slept.  Occasionally,  a  band  of  native  vagabonds  would  manifest 
a  hostile  air.  Once  they  tliought  they  must  fight  for  their  lives, 
confronted  by  eight  or  ten  times  their  own  number  of  capering 
savages  ;  but  the  danger  passed.  When  the  assailants  came  to 
a  parley,  La  Salle  was  advised  that  he  would  find  implacable 
foes  in  the  Illinois  if  he  went  on,  for  they  had  been  taught  to 
believe  by  the  traders,  who  were  already  warning  them  against 
La  SaUe,  that  the  raids  which  the  Iroquois  had  made  into  the 
Illinois  country  had  been  instigated  by  the  French. 

It  was  November  1,  1679,  when  La  Salle  reached  the  St. 
1679,  Nov.  1.  Joseph  River.  He  was  some  time  ahead  of  Tonty,  and 
tire^st!  j^'  he  employed  the  interval  in  building  a  timber  fort.  It 
aeph  River.  ^^^  nearly  three  weeks  before  his  lieutenant  appeared 
with  only  half  his  party,  for  the  difficulties  of  feeding  them  all 
along  one  route  had  compelled  him  to  divide  his  followers,  and 
the  two  sections  had  taken  different  ways.  Tonty  brought  no 
tidings  of  the  "  Griffon,"  as  La  Salle  had  hoped  he  would  ;  and 
so  two  men  were  dispatched  to  Mackinac,  to  be  there  when  she 
returned  from  Niagara,  and  guide  her  to  the  St.  Joseph,  where 
four  men  were  left  in  the  fort. 

On  December  3,  La  Salle,  with  eight  canoes  and  thirty-three 
men,  started  up  the  St.  Joseph  River.  There  was 
nothing  to  cheer  them  in  the  stretch  of  dreary  fields 
and  bare  woods  which  lined  the  river's  channel.  His  anxiety 
about  the  "  Griffon "  weighed  him  down  throughout  these 
seventy  sad  miles.  For  a  while  he  despaired  of  finding  the 
portage.  At  last  it  was  discovered,  and  there  was  a  severe 
haul  over  five  miles  of  stiffened  ooze.     When  they  once  more 


LA   SALLE   ON  THE  ILLINOIS. 


265 


launched  their  canoes  on  the  Kankakee,  they  slipped  along  with 
the  welcome  current  through  open  prairies,  which  were  the 
range  of  the  buffalo.  At  last  they  shot  out  upon  the  Illinois. 
They  came  to  a  large  village  of  the  Ottawas,  but  the  huts  were 
empty,  for  it  was  the  period  of  the  winter  hunt.  They  searched 
the  spot  till  they  found  a  store  of  buried  corn,  and  took  in  their 
need  fifty  bushels  of  it.  They  had  passed  under  the  ribbed 
precipice  of  what  was  later  known  as'  Starved  Rock,  not  yet 
suggestive  of  future  trials.  Around  them  lay  the  broad  plains 
of  the  Illinois ;  stretching  between  its  bordering  ridges. 

On  January  1,  1G80,  they  landed,  and  celebrated  the  feast  of 
the  Circumcision.  On  the  5th,  they  darted  into  the  jcgo,  ja„u. 
expansion  of  water  now  known  as  Peoria  Lake.  As  ""^y- 
they  approached  its  lower  end  they  discovered  some  thin  films 
of  smoke  writhing  above  the  woods,  and,  doubling  a  point  in  the 
contracted  stream,  an  Indian  village  was  before  them.  La  Salle 
slackened  his  speed  enough  to  draw  out  his  little  flotilla  in  line 
across  the  river,  and  floated  on  amid  the  shouts  and  cries  of  the 
disturbed  savages.  The  aspect  for  a  while  was  threatening,  but 
La  Salle  boldly  landed  as  if  for  conference,  and  the  chiefs  ad- 
vanced with  calumets.  The  peaceful  pipe  removed  distrust,  and 
tobacco  and  hatchets  were  soon  exchanged  for  hospitality,  while 
the  rubbing  of  the  Frenchmen's  feet  with  unguents  marked  the 
savage  civilities.  The  taking  of  corn  from  their  village  garners 
was  explained  and  payment  offered.  With  faltering  interpre- 
tation the  visitors  tried  to  make  evident  that  they  had  come  to 
do  their  hosts  a  service.  They  promised  to  open  a  route  by 
which  to  bring  them  the  articles  of  European  traffic,  which  were 
so  acceptable.  If  they  would  generously  allow  the  French  to 
build  a  fort  among  them,  such  trade  and  reciprocity  would  oe 
increased.  The  tribe,  said  the  visitors,  could  not  wisely  dony 
such  a  privilege,  for  it  would  only  force  their  guests  to  pass  on 
to  other  more  hospitable  people.  Such  were,  as  Hennepin  tells 
us,  the  persuasions  the  Frenchmen  offered. 

But  the  golden  offers  were  not  doing  all  that  La  Salle  ex- 
pected, and  he  thought  he  saw  that  the  demeanor  of  the  savaoes 
was  growing  more  and  more  uneasy.  He  began  to  suspect  that 
some  of  the  disappointed  and  vagrant  Mackinac  traders  who 
were  determined  to  thwart  his  purposes  had  their  Indian  emis- 
saries in  the  dusky  throngs  which  surrounded  him.     Hennepin 


:  J 


i<<  f  i 


'fmm 


2G0 


CATARAQUI  AND  CR^VECCEUR. 


cli.'ir^es  AUouez,  the  Jesuit  priest  who  succeeded  Marquette  in 
the  Illinois  mission,  and  who  had  been  a  good  deal  among  these 
people  for  the  last  two  or  three  years,  with  having  instigated 
these  distrusts,  and  La  Salle  later  i)rofessed  himself  confident  o£ 
AUouez's  intrigues.  At  all  events,  it  was  apparent  that  some 
evil  purpose  had  possessed  the  savages,  and  was  extending  even 
among  La  Salle's  own  followers.  Two  of  his  best  carpenters, 
upon  whom  he  was  depending  for  future  work,  deserted  him 
at  this  juncture,  and  othe;  •  less  valuable  had  slunk  away.  It 
is  even  affirmed  that  sou*  tried  to  poison  their  leader,  but 
a  good  deal  of  caution  must  be  exercised  in  interpreting  the 
morose  forebodings  of  La  Salle.  A  certain  rigorous  silence 
which  sometimes  came  over  him  was  associated  in  the  minds  of 
the  mistrustful  savages  with  what  they  imagined  to  be  some 
purpose  to  favor  the  Iroquois,  and  no  thought  could  be  more 
disquieting  among  them. 

It  was  amid  such  mutterings  that  La  Salle  l-esolved  upon 
boldly  placing  a  fortified  post  among  these  lowering  savages. 
He  selected  a  spot  on  a  knoll  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river. 
This  little  elevation  was  flanked  by  ravines  and  marshes,  and 
they  easily  dug  a  ditch  to  complete  the  circuit  of  defense. 
Within  this  they  threw  up  earthworks,  protected  by 
builds  Fort  palisades.  La  Salle  named  his  tort  Crevecoeur,  — 
broken  heart !  It  has  been  commonly  said  that  this 
name  was  given  in  recognition  of  cruel  mishaps,  which  perplexed 
him,  and  none  of  which  was  more  disiieartening  than  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  "  Griffon,"  for  his  followers,  left  at  St.  Jo- 
seph, had  never  been  able  to  send  him  the  grateful  tidings  of 
her  appearance. 

It  may  well  be  doubted  if  any  but  a  foolish  leader  could 
have  so  clearly  emphasized  his  misfortunes,  when  his  querulous 
adherents  needed  so  much  to  be  inspirited.  Shea  is  accordingly 
forced  to  believe  that  the  name  was  chosen  rather  in  reminis- 
cence of  the  Fort  Crevecanii  in  the  Netherlands  which  had  been 
captured  by  Louis  XIV.  a  few  years  before  (1G72). 

The  fort  well  planned,  La  Salle  laid  the  keel  of  a  small  ves- 
sel of  forty  tons,  —  she  was  to  be  forty-two  feet  long 
work  01.  a      with  twclvc  fcct  breadth  of    beam, — which  was  to 
serve  with  her  high  rails  as  a  floating  breastwork  in 
his  intended  voyage  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.     Though 


ACCAULT  AND  HENNEPIN. 


267 


he  was  embarrassed  by  the  defection  of  some  of  his  carpenters, 
the  work  went  bravely  on.     He  kept  his  party  as  closely  within 
his  fort  as  the  work  jjermitted,  for  he  could  hardly  feel  that  his 
position  was  a  safe  one.     Membre,  however,  lived  among  the 
Indians,  ministering  his  holy  calling,  and  we  owe  to  his  journal 
some  part  of  our  knowledge  of  these  precarious  days.     The 
story  which  Sagean  told  after  La  Salle's  death  of  his  partici- 
pation in  this  expedition  has  little  or  no  claims  for  belief.     The 
Indians  had  not  ceased  to  picture  the    horrors  of  the  lower 
Mississippi,  in  their  efforts  to  dissuade  the  French  from  going 
farther  down  ;  but  the  construction  of  the    ship  showed  that 
their  intimidations  were  useless.     La  Salle  soon  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  im])ress  them  with  something  like  a  miraculous  pres- 
cience.    He  chanced  to  intercept  a  young  Illinois,  bound  to  tlie 
village,  but  yet  some  distance  afield.     From  him  he  gleaned  a 
sufficiently  accurate  account  of  the  leading  landmarks  in  the 
great  river's  southern  course.     With  this  knowledge  La  Salle 
sought  an  interview  with  the  chiefs,  und  told  them  what  he  ex- 
pected  to  find.     His  descriptions  so  closely  corresi)onded  with 
what  they  knew,  rather  than  what  they  represented,  tliat  they 
were  embarrassed,  and  acknowledged  they  liad  had  the  puri)ose 
to  deceive  him.    This  moral  victory  served  to  make  matters  more 
promising,  and  La  Salle  determined  to  return  to  his  manor  at 
Cataraqui,  and  secure  equipments  for  his  ship.     But  one  thing 
was  yet  to  be  done  before  leaving,  and  that  was  to  dispatch  a 
party  to  explore  the  ujjjjcr  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  as  comple- 
menting his  own  project  of  exploring  the  lower  parts  to  ,f,go.  Feb- 
the  sea.    To  this  end  one  Accault  was  put  in  conmiand  Jlfufl'ani''" 
of  a  party,  and  Hennepin  was  detailed  to  accompanv    "•""'"P'n 

!•  r\iii,i»T-...  .  1        J       sent  to  the 

Inm.  On  the  last  day  of  February,  1680,  La  Salle  -^''"^'''^ppi- 
saw  the  little  expedition  start  on  its  way.  A  recital  of  its  ad- 
ventures must  be  reserved  for  another  chapter.  We  must  also 
omit  for  the^  present  to  follow  La  Salle  himself,  when  a  few 
days  later,  bidding  Tonty  good-by,  and  investing  him  wi^h  the 
command,  he  also  left  for  his  visit  to  the  distant  settlements. 
It  is  only  necessary  now  to  record  that  he  had  not  gone  far 
when  his  eye  measured  the  natural  strength  of  the  eminence 
now  called  Starved  Itock,  and  making  an  examination  of  it,  he 
determined  it  was  a  better  post  than  Crevecoiur,  if  a  siege  was 
to  be  withstood.  Accordingly,  later  in  his  progress,  he  sent 
back  instructions  to  Tonty  to  occupy  it. 


;t 


•1 

St 

I 

■'I 

m 


268 


CATARAQUI  AND  HikVECCEUR. 


n  V} 


These  messengers  dvjlivcrcd  La  Salle's  instructio!  ; ;  but  that 
was  not  all.  They  aroused  the  lurking  spirit  of  sedition  which 
La  Salle  thought  he  had  quieted.  They  told  stories  of  the 
financial  ruin  which  had  overtaken  their  leader's  affairs  in 
Montreal,  and  of  his  consequent  inability  to  succor  them.  The 
pay  of  La  Salle's  men  was  long  in  arrears,  and  there  seemed  no 
hope.  Tonty,  very  likely  not  aware  of  the  feelings  of 
BtTrv^ed'  revolt  which  these  stories  were  creating,  did  not  delay 
"""''"  to  carry  out  La  Salle's  conunands  about  the  Kock,  and 

left  with  a  few  men  to  visit  the  spot  and  begin  his  occupation 
of  the  heights,  lie  was  no  sooner  gone  than  the  smothered  pas- 
sions broke  into  fury,  and  the  fort  was  gutted  and  abandoned. 

Word  of  all  this  soon  reached  Tonty  at  the  Rock,  and  he  dis- 
patched two  snuill  i)arties  by  different  routes  to  carry  intelli- 
gence to  La  Salle  of  the  ill  luck  which  had  befallen  Crevecoeuv. 
One  of  the  parties,  as  we  shall  see,  reached  its  destination.  The 
sending  of  these  messengers  depleted  Tonty 's  force  so  much 
that  he  was  left  with  only  three  companions  beside  the  two 
friars,  to  meet  what  seemed  an  inevitable  fate.  There  was  no- 
thin"-  for  the  solitary  Frenchmen  to  do  but  to  mingle  confidently 
with  the  Indian  community  which  surrounded  the  Rock,  and 
disarm  enmity  by  a  seeming  trustfulness.  In  these  straits,  and 
with  recurring  apprehensions,  the  spring  and  summer  passed. 

Early  in  September,  a  Shawnee  straggler  came  into  the  vil- 
1080  Sep.  I'^g^  ^^^  reported  a  war  party  of  Iroquois  and  Miamis 
teinber.  ^^^  f j^^.  (jff^  Xlic  commuuity  was  exasperated  at  the 
attack.  sudden  danger.  It  was  thought  that  this  new  attack 
of  the  dreaded  confederates  was  set  on  by  the  French,  and 
some  scouts  who  had  been  out  to  watch  the  enemy's  advance 
reported  that  they  had  seen  La  Salle  and  a  black- robe  among 
the  approaching  foe.  The  truth  was  that  some  leader  among 
them  was  arrayed  in  European  clothes,  and  the  real  secret  of 
their  renewed  hostility  was  to  break  up  the  French  plans  of 
establishing  traffic  in  the  great  valley.  If  there  was  any  spur 
ui)on  their  movements,  it  was  applied  by  the  English  at  Albany, 
who  looked  to  the  Iroquois  as  middlemen  in  keeinng  up  their 
peltry  trade  with  these  western  tribes.  The  Miamis  had  an  old 
o-rudf-e  ao-ainst  the  Illinois,  and  the  confederates  had  readily 
enticed  them  into  joining  in  the  raid. 

Tonty  thus  found  himself  unexpectedly  put  to  a  test  both  of 


TONTY'S  ESCAPE. 


269 


his  audacity  and  tact.  Jlis  ai)parent  eagerness  to  join  in  the 
fray  at  last  dispelled  the  suspicions  of  his  In(''an  '<Uies.  The 
Illinois  I  uriedlv  ombarked  their  women  and  ehildn  •'  for  n 
island  retreat  down  the  river,  and  gave  the  night  to  makiu' 
ready  f(     the       >rrr>'  r^t. 

With  till  ..uit»is  advanced  to  meet  the  attack,  and 

in  the  mi  ..-tt  oi  lo  confusion  Tonty  stepped  to  the  front,  hold- 
ing a  wampum  belt  as  an  invitation  to  prirley.  On  his  beinf 
re(  ized  as  a  Frenchman,  the  conflict  was  partially  stilled 
about  him,  but  it  was  not  checked  enough  even  then  to  save 
Tonty  from  a  wound  in  the  surging  of  the  combatants,  lie 
succeeded  at  last  in  warning  the  enemy  that  in  attacking  the 
Illinois  they  were  warring  upon  the  French,  of  whom  there  was 
a  force  of  sixty  s  he  professed,  not  far  oif,  ready  to  avenge 
any  disaster.  3  effrontery  gained  time,  and  the  Illinois, 

suspecting  the  couiederates'  hesitan -y  to  be  only  a  disguise  for 
something  worse,  set  fire  to  t'oir  town  and  joined  their  wo- 
men down  the  stream.  The  Iro,]uois  immediately  swarmed  over 
the  ground,  and  began  to  devastate  what  the  fire  had  spared. 
Tonty's  position  was  growing  more  critical.  It  was  evident 
that  nothing  but  a  policy  of  peace  with  Frontenac,  which  the 
Iroquois  were  practicing,  saved  these  ai)palled  Frenchmen  from 
the  ol,d  fury  ot  their  former  foes.  Tonty  soon  yielded  jonty 
to  the  Iroquois  advice,  and  saw  that  he  must  leave  the  «»<=''i'e8- 
Illinois  to  their  fate.  He  embarked  in  canoes  with  his  com- 
panions, and  paddled  upstream  out  of  sight  and  earshot  of  the 
hideous  revelries. 

Tonty  gone,  there  was  no  restraint  upon  the  furious  Iroquois, 
and  they  started  down  the  river  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  Illinois. 
The  savage  demons  fell  upon  their  victims  wherever  they  could 
come  up  with  them,  and  left  the  revolting  traces  of  their  fiendish 
fury  all  along  their  track. 

Tonty,  the  day  after  his  escape,  stopped  to  repair  his  canoe, 
when  Father  Kibourde,  wandering  off  from  the  p:i  y,  was  mur- 
dered by  a  marauding  band  of  Kickapoos.  There  were  four 
Frenchmen  now  left  beside  their  leader,  and  they  pushed  on, 
buoyed  by  a  hope  which  promised  little.  They  suffered  hard- 
ships that  there  was  no  chance  of  escaping.  They  passed  the 
Chicago  portage  and  followed  down  the  western  shores  of 
Michigan,  little  suspecting  that  La  Salle  was  at  the  same  time 


I'l 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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I.I 


2.2 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4S03 


"■^    ..s^    "i'"'^ '.<&.  «?■<♦ 


5?  ..W 


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C 


270 


CATARAQUI  AND   ClikVECCEUR. 


following  up  the  opposite  shore  to  succor  them.     It  was  now 
Nov ,  Dec,    November,  and  early  in  December  Tonty  met  a  party 


1G80. 


of  Ottawas,  who  took  them  in  their  canoes.  Famished, 
and  weakened  almost  to  exhaustion,  they  found  at  last  hospita- 
ble entertainment  in  a  Pottawattamie  village.  Tonty  was  too  ill 
to  go  farther,  and  there  happened  to  be  some  Frenchmen  in  the 
village  to  nurse  him.  Membre  was  left  to  proceed  alone  to  Green 
Bay  and  report  the  horrible  details  of  these  tragic  experiences. 

We  may  turn  now  to  follow  La  Salle  after  he  had  parted  with 
Ma.ch,  1C80.  '^""^y-    ^^  was  in  March,  1G80,  when,  accompanied  by 
mo^'iuts.    ^"^  faithful  Mohegan   hunter  and  four  Frenchmen, 
La  Salle's  two  canoes  glided  out  into  the  icy  stream 
and  began  to  ascend  the  Illinois.     It  was  dreary  weather,  and 
nothing  but  severe  hardship  could  be  in  store  for  them ;  but  it 
was  necessary  to  undergo  everything  if  he  was  to  launch  his 
aew  vessel  at  Crevecoeur  the  next  season,  since  the  ancliors  and 
other  equipments   must   be    brought  from   the  St.  Lawrence. 
They  found  in  some  places  the  ice  in  the  river  too  thick  to 
break,  and  were  obliged  to  sledge  their  canoes.     The  snow  lay 
deep  enough  to  embank  the  buffalo,  and  they  got  some  meat  by 
killing  the  struggling  creatures.     Towards  the  end  of  March 
they  reached  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph.      Here  they  found 
sono  of  the  men  who  had  been  left  there,  but  they  had  heard 
nothing  of  the  "  Griffon."     Two  of  them  were  ordered  to  join 
Tonty  and  carry  the  message  about  fortifying   tlie  Rock,   to 
which  reference  has  been  made.     There  now  lay  before  them 
270  miles  of  an  unexplored  path  across  the  neck  of  the  lower 
Michigan  peninsula  to  the  Detroit  River.     They  encountered 
trials  and  dangers  enough  to  make  the  stoutest  quail.     Shea, 
who  is  much  inclined  to  belittle  and  disparage  all  of  La  Salle's 
acts,  looks  upon  this  fearful  tramj)  as  "  the  only  really  bold  and 
adventurous  act "  in  his  career.     They  waded  through  drowned 
lands.     They  were  obliged  to  thaw  their  stiffened  clothes  in  the 
morning  before  they  could  move.     Where  they  found  a  path  in 
the  open  they  burned  the  grass  to  destroy  their  trail,  for  warring 
savages  invested  the  country,  little  discriminating  as  regards 
their  human  prey.     They  fortunately  escaped  them,  or  appease.! 
them  if  encountered. 

On  reaching  the  Detroit  River,  along  which  the  Ilurons  were 


LA   SALLE   ON  THE  ST.   LAWRENCE. 


271 


now  gathering  into  a  permanent  settlement,  two  of  La  Salle's 
men  were  sent  to  Mackinac  to  report  his  movements.  The 
leader  with  his  remaining  men  now  made  from  elm  bark  a  canoe 
m  which  the  reduced  party  finally  reached  Niagara.  He  here 
found  other  of  his  men  holding  the  post  near  the  shipyard  of 
the  "  Griffon."  These  dependants  were  equally  without  tidings 
of  the  ill-fated  vessel,  and  had  new  misfortunes  to  report,  for 
a  ship  which  La  Salle  had  expected  with  supplies  had  been 
wrecked  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  Such  was  the  dismal  condition 
wh\ch  confronted  him  at  Niagara. 

La  SaUe  had  borne  up  under  the  hardships  of  the  march 
better  than  his  men.     He  bravely  stood  all  these  failures  of  his 
hopes.     Taking  three  fresh  men  in  place  of  his  prostrate  com- 
panions,  he   again  started  for  Fort  Frontenac,  and 
reached  that  post  on  May  6  ;  he  had  traveled  a  thou-  FoTtlron' 
sand  miles,  and  had  been  sixty-five. days  in  doing  it.       '"""'" 

There  was  little  to  inspirit  him  about  the  condition  in  which 
he  found  his  affairs.      Inquiries  disclosed  that   some   of  his 
trusted  agents  had  appropriated  the  profit  of  his   furs.     He 
learned  that  others  had  deserted  his  interests  and  had  taken  his 
skins  to  Albany.     Somebody  had  started  a  report  of  his  death, 
and  on  the  strength  of  it,  a  forced  sale  had  been  made  of  some 
of  his  effects.     There  was  yet,  howeve.,  somr  thing  more  than  a 
reed  to  depend  on.    Frontenac  was  still  his  support,  and  La  Salle 
found  on  going  to  Montreal  that  he  could  yet  get  credit  and 
supplies.     During  the  two  months  in  which  La  Salle  addressed 
himself  to  the  improving  of  his  affairs,  he  succe  :led  in  accom- 
plishing  much,  and  was  on  the  eve  of  again  departing  for  the 
Illinois  when  one  of  the  parties  which  Tonty  had  sent  off  with 
the  news  of  the  revolt  at  Crevecoeur  reached  Fort  Frontenac. 
These  men  also  brought  tidings  of  the  later  riotous  conduct  of 
the  mutineers,  plundering  where  they  could,  and  that  they  were 
now  on  the  way  to  Cataraqui,  scattering  reports  as  they  came 
on  of  the  death  of  Tonty,  and  harboring  vengeance  on  La  Salle. 
It  was  towards  the  end  of  July,  1G80,  when  La  Salle 
was  awakened  to  these  new  dangers.     His  decision  ^"'^* 
was  prompt.     He  mustered  some  faithful  men,  and  started  to 
meet  the  vagabonds.     He  ambushed  his  party  on  the  track  of 
the  marauders,  and  easily  captured  the  two  canoes  which  were 
in  advance,  and  later  he  seized  a  third,  and  returned  with  all 
his  prisoners  to  the  fort. 


i    iffJ 


272 


CATARAQUI  AND   CllkVECCEUR. 


.I'fh 


1080, 
Aufjiist. 
fitiirts  west 
again. 


November. 
At  St.  Jo- 
seph's fort. 


La  Salle  had  twenty-five  men  with  him  when,  a  few  days  later, 
he  left  the  fort.     lie  followed  the  Ilumber  Kiver,  and 
thence  crossing  to  Lake  Simcoe,  he  tracked  its  outlet 
to  Georgian  Bay.     Reaching  Mackinac,   he  divided 
his  party,  and  leaving  La  Forest,  now  his  lieutenant,  to  follow 
October.       '^^^*^^  ^^^  ^'^^^'  ^^^  pushed  on  with  only  twelve  men. 
October  with  its  variegated  charms  had  come  when 
La  Salle  was  moving  with  his  canoes  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan,  —  just  at  the  monaent,  we   have  seen,  when 
Tonty,  faltering  with  his  burdens,  was  being  borne  along  the 
western.     Neither  was  conscious  of  the  movements  of  the  other. 
In  November,  La  Salle  was  at  the   fort  on  the  St. 
Joseph,  which  he  found   had  been  abandoned.     lie 
wrote  here  for  Frontenac  a  statement  of  his  belief  in 
pursuing  this  western  discovery.     lie  left  five  men  to  repair 
and  occupy  the  post,  and  went  on  with  six  others  and  a  single 
Indian.     The  prairie,  as  they  passed  along  the  Kankakee,  was 
dark  in  places  with  hordes  of  buffaloes.    They  killed  twelve  and 
dried  the  meat.     They  passed  Starved  liock;    it  was  silent. 
They  came  to  the  great  town  of  the  Illinois,  but  it  was  a  scene 
of  black  desolation.     TVolves  and  buzzards  were  feeding  upon 
the  half-buried  bodies  of  its  defenders.     The  skulls  .vhich  were 
grinning  upon  poles  here  and  there  told  the  old  story  of  Iroquois 
ferocity.     In  the  Illinois  fort  they  found  a  few  bits  of  French 
cloth,  —  that  was  all.     The  skulls  were  examined,  —  they  were 
all  Indian.     Where  was  Tonty  ? 

La  Salle  left  three  men  to  conceal  themselves  near  the  town 
At  the  for  the  present,  and  with  four  others  he  went  on.     He 

lumoisfort.  found  where  the  camps  of  the  Illinois  and  the  invaders 
had  been  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river ;  but  everything  was 
abandoned.  He  reached  Crevecoeur ;  it  was  demolished,  but 
the  vessel  was  still  on  the  stocks,  though  the  Iroquois  had  drawn 
out  the  iron  spikes.  He  still  went  on,  and  reached  the  Missis- 
December,  sijipi.  It  was  his  first  sight  of  it.  Here  he  tied  a 
BeesiheMi'^  letter  for  Tonty  to  a  tree,  and  turned  back.  It  was 
B.HS.I.P..  „Q^y  ^j^g  g^^.jy  ^^^^^  ^^  December,  1G80.  He  rejoined 
the  men  whom  he  had  left  near  the  Illinois  town,  and  a  great 
comet  hung  ominously  over  the  scene  of  desolation,  and  with  its 
baleful  impressiveness  following  him.  La  Salle  went  back  to  the 
Miami  country. 


■1.  .pj. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


DULUTH  AND   HENNEPIN   ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

1678-1683. 

DuLUTH  was  a  cousin  of  Tonty  with  the  silver  hand,  as  La 
Salle's  friend  was  designated  because   of   his  metal 
member.     There  is  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Marine  at  Paris  an  account  which  Duluth  wrote  in  1683  of  his 
experiences  in  the  Sioux  country.     He  was  an  adventurous 
young  fellow,  who  had  found,  off  and  on,  attractions  in  the  Ca- 
nadian wilderness,  till  on  September  1,  1678,  he  was  jg-g  ^mon 
allowed  to  start  on  explorations  to  s( •*  what  he  could  "'"^ioux. 
find  among  the  Sioux.     The  priests  and  traders  had  known  this 
people  as  wanderers  and  loiterers  about  the  Lake  Superior  sta- 
tions for  several  years.     Duluth  took  with  him  three  French- 
men  and  three   Indians,   and  wintered   somewhere   on   Lake 
Huron.    In  the  following  spring  (1679),  he  was  in  the 
woods  not  far  from  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  on  April 
5  he  wrote  to  Frontenac  that  he  was  preparing  to  forestall  the 
English,  and  to  get  ahead  of  any  Spanish  who  might  come 
from  the  South  Sea  to  explore  the  region  west  of  Lake  Superior. 
He  also  informed  the  governor  that  he  intended  to  set  up  the 
king's  arms  among  the  Sioux  who  inhabited  this  country.    This 
act  he  performed  on  the  2d  of  the  following  July,  in  the  midst 
of  the  Mille  Lacs  region.     In  the  autumn  (1679),  he  was  near 
the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  using  his  good  offices  to  jjeav  Lake 
establish  a  peace  between  the  Sioux  and  the  Assini-  Superior. 
boines.     This  was  about  September  15,  and  the  site  of  his 
mediation  seems  to  have  been  the  spot  where  later  Fort  William 
stood. 

The  enemies  of  Frontenac  were  not  backward  in  insinuating 
that  clandestine  trade  for  the  governor's  advantage  had  not  a 
little  to  do  with  this  movement  of  Duluth;   and  it  was  not 


r. 


m 


fJ3 


Uuluth 
Bt'L-kiiij;  a 
waterway 


^^mm 


274    DULUTH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON   THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


Morenu, 
nlids  La 
Taiipiiie. 


to  tlie  Mis- 
fiiKBippi, 
where  lie 
liears  of 
Kurojeana. 


unknown  tliat  a  trador  named  Pierre  Moreau,  but  commonly 
Pierre  (-'allt'd  La  Taupinc,  was  at  this  time  wandering  about 

this  very  region,  perhaps  with  Frontenue's  i)rotection 
in  liis  pocket.  Some  years  before,  Joliet  had  found 
Moreau  m  the  Illinois  country,  and  when  afterwards  in  Mon- 
treal the  fellow  boasted  of  his  success  in  ti-ading  for  furs,  and 
the  intendant  sought  to  arrest  him  for  iUicit  traffic,  he  i)rodueed 
orders  from  Frouteuac  appointing  him  to  secret  service  amou"- 
the  Ottawas.  ° 

In  the  summer  of  1C80,  Duluth  was  once  more  in  this  region, 
ifisn.  and  this  time  he  sought  to  find  a  waterway  to"  the 

Sioux  country,  which  he  had  reached  before  by  land. 
He  had  two  canoes,  and  with  him  were  an  Indian 
intei7)reter  and  four  Frenchmen.     He  passed  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior into  the  Bois  Brule  liiver,  a  narrow  stream  with  an  ob- 
strueted  channel,  and  then  crossing  a  portage  he  reached  the 
St.  Clair  Lake,  and  so  descended  by  its  outlet  to  the 
Mississippi.     Duluth  had  learned  from  the  Sioux  that 
a  party  of  their  tribe  had  gone  down  the  river  to  hunt, 
and  that  some  Europeans  were  with  them.    Duluth  had 
intended  on  this  expedition  to  push  on  westward  to  salt  water, 
wliioh  he  expected  would  prove  to  be  the  Gulf  of  California, 
and  he  supposed  it  was  distant  orly  twenty  days'  journey.     It 
was  the  prevailing  notion  at  this  time  that  the  line  of  the  upper 
Mississippi  was  from  two  thirds  to  three  quarters  across  the 
continent,  when  in  reality  it   is  about  midway.      This  is  the 
geographical  view  which  wq  find  was  cherished  by  Joliet  and 
Hennepin,  and  appears  in  the  maps  of  Fran(pielin,  who  was 
at  this  time  living  in  Quebec,  and  embodying  in  '   s  maps  the 
latest  reports  of  the  western  explorers. 

Who  these  Europeans  were,  thus  following  the  hunting  party 
of  the  Sioux,  was  an  interesting  question,  which  Duluth  was 
anxious  to  solve,  for  it  was  possible  that  his  planting  of 
the  royal  column  amid  the  Mille  Lacs  was  none  too  soon,  if 
English  or  Spaniard  had  penetrated  to  its  neigliborhood.  So 
leaving  two  of  his  men  to  guard  his  wares,  and  taking  the 
other  two  with  him,  Duluth  started  down  the  river. 

We  have  seen  that  just  before  La  Salle  left  Crevecoour  to  go 
back  to  Cataraqui,  in  the  early  spring  of  1G80,  he  had  dis- 
patched Michel  Accault,  a  Picard  man,  whose  name  is  variously 


ice  among 


BUILDING  OF  THE  "  GRIFFON." 


275 


Wl 


'A 


T 


P  I 


il 


!ii 


April, 
Encounter 
the  Bioiix. 


276    DULUTH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

spelled,  with  Hennepin  and  another  Picard  man,  Du  Gay,  as 
im)  Ac  f'o>»P''^"if>"^'  Their  purpose  was  to  conduct  an  expe- 
caiiit  anil  dition  to  the  region  where  we  have  iust  parted  with 
Duluth.  The  trip  is  mostly  associated  with  Henne- 
pin, because  we  depend  on  his  account  of  their  wanderings ;  but 
Accault,  as  the  better  linguist,  seems  to  have  been  in  charge 
by  La  Salle's  appointment. 

Passing  down  the  Illinois,  the  little  party  turned  up  the 
Iv'^ississippi,  and  went  on  amid  the  floating  ice.  They  paddled 
up  beyond  the  Wisconsin,  and  when  near  the  Black 
Kiver,  on  April  11,  tliey  met  a  party  of  Sioux,  a  hun- 
dred  and  more  in  number,  in  thirty-three  birch  canoes. 
The  savages  came  down  upon  the  little  exploring  party  with 
precipitation,  and  soon  surrounded  them.  The  Frenchmen 
seemed  for  a  while  in  great  danger,  but  the  Sioux  had  already 
profited  by  the  French  trade,  and  whatever  passions  for  plun- 
der stirred  them  now,  there  was  prudence  enough  in  the  savage 
leaders  to  check  the  murderous  impulse.  They  therefore  car- 
ried the  captives  to  their  villages.  The  whole  flotilla  struggled 
up  against  the  current,  till,  coming  to  the  widening  of  the 
stream  below  the  modern  St.  Paul,  their  canoes  were  hidden, 
and  the  party  made  the  rest  of  tlie  journey  by  land,  and  found 
a  halt  at  last,  and  relief  from  a  march  which  proved  weary  and 
painful  to  the  prisoners,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Buade.  Here 
the  Frenchmen  were  detained  for  some  weeks,  being  distributed 
to  separate  masters  ;  but  all  three  were  at  last  brought  together, 
to  accompany  a  party  of  their  captors  down  the  Mississipi>i  on 
a  buffalo  hunt.  Later,  Accault  preferring  to  stay  with  the  In- 
dians, Hennepin  and  Du  Gay  were  allowed  to  depart  in  a  canoe 
to  try  to  join  some  French,  who,  as  La  Salle  had  prom- 
ised, were  to  be  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin.  They 
went  off  in  the  slumbrons  air  of  summer,  —  for  it  was 
July,  1680,  —  and  floated  with  the  current  till  the  falls  near 
the  modern  Minneapolis  confronted  them.  This  cataract  owes 
the  name  of  St.  Anthony  to  Hennepin,  who  now  first  saw  it. 
Carrying  their  canoe  to  the  quiet  water  below,  they  still  went 
on,  wondering  at  the  seamy  towers  of  nature's  architecture 
everywhere  around  them.  At  last  they  cast  a  longing  gaze 
upon  the  festooned  trees  which  marked  the  approach  to  Lake 
Pepin,  and  were  smoothly  floated  out  upon  its  waters. 


1G80,  July. 

Hennepin 

releiised. 


IPPI. 

I  Gay,  as 
t  an  oxpe- 
rted  with 
th  Ilenne- 
ings;  but 
in  charge 

hI  up  the 
y  paddled 
the  BLaek 
IX,  a  hun- 
ch canoes. 
>ai'ty  with 
renchmen 
1  already 
for  plun- 
lie  savage 
efore  car- 
struggled 
ig  of  the 
e  hidden, 
md  found 
veary  and 
le.  Here 
istrihuted 
together, 
ssipi>i  on 
;li  the  In- 
n  a  canoe 
lad  proni- 
i'm.  They 
for  it  was 
Falls  near 
ract  owes 
sc  saw  it. 
still  went 
^hitecture 
jing  gaze 
to  Lake 


THE   TWO  EXPLORERS   MEET. 


277 


In   this    neighborhood   Hennepin   encountered   the    Indian 
whose  adopted  son  he  had  become  during  his  stay  at  Lake  Bu- 
ade,  and  from  him  he  learned  that  a  band  of  the  Sioux  were  not 
far  off,  hunting  on  a  tributary  of  tlic  Mississippi.     The  French- 
men's  ammunition  was  well-nigh  spent,  and  they  foiuid  it  im- 
possible to  keep  from  one  meal  to  another  the  game  which  tliey 
were  fortunate  enough  to  kill.     With  powder  gone  they  would 
be  in  danger  of  famishing.     The  lesser  evil  was  to  join  these 
hunting  Sioux,  which  they  did,  and  they  found  Accault  among 
them.     While  in  company  with  these  Sioux,  two  s.juaws  came 
from  the  cast  and  reported  meeting  a  war  party  of 
their  tribe,  accompanied  by  five  white  men.     Henne-  ofThUe"' 
pin  was  as  curious  as  Duluth  had  been  to  know  what  '"'"' 
other  Europeans  were  so  near  him.     They  vere  in  fact  Duluth 
and  his  companions. 

The  party  which  Hennepin  had  joined,  having  now  ended 
their  hunt,  started   northward  towards  their  homes, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  two  Sioux  parties  met,  Se"t!f'' '° 
and  Hennepin  and  Duluth  encountered  one  another.       °"'""'' 

It  was  represented  later  both  by  Hennepin  and  Duluth  that 
at  the  time  of  their  meeting  Hennepin  was  in  forcible  deten- 
tion by  the  Sioux,  and  that  it  was  Duluth's  intervention  which 
released  him.  The  story  is  not  altogether  credible,  and  La 
Salle  at  least  did  not  believe  it.  At  all  events,  the  two  French- 
men parted  with  the  Indians  in  company,  and  with  their  com- 
paniouf,,  eight  in  all,  they  passed  up  the  Wisconsin,  where 
the  traders  which  La  Salle  had  intended  to  meet  them  were 
not  to  be  found,  as  the  reader  might  readily  suppose  from  the 
evil  fortune  which  had  overtaken  that  leader.  They  passed 
unmolested  by  the  Fox  Eiver  to  Green  Bay,  and  win- 
tered at  Mackinac.  In  May,  1681,  Duluth  reached  lu'that  Que- 
Quebec,  and  was  arrested  for  illegal  trading  at  the 
west.  The  suppression  of  clandestine  traffic  had  proved  so 
difficult  that  the  home  government  made  a  virtue  of  necessity, 
and  sent  orders  that  the  treasury  should  profit  from  a  freer  dis- 
tribution of  licenses.  It  was  directed  that  twenty-five  such 
permits  should  be  given  annually,  each  covering  a  single  canoe 
and  three  men.  The  spirit  of  the  order  was  enough  to  estab- 
lish greater  leniency  for  such  transgressions  as  had  gone  by, 
and  Duluth  was  released. 


'■^ 


W  m 


,  I 


Heniiopiii  lit 
Fort  Froii- 
teuac. 


108.3.    Piil>. 
UhIich  lii.i 
narrativB  in 
Paris,  witli 
a  map. 


■!ii 


278    DULUTII  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

In  tho  same  spring  (1G81),  IIennei)in  ai)pe.are(l  among  his 
old  companions  at  Fort  Frontenac,  almo.st  as  an  apj)a- 
rition,  for  it  was  believed,  as  the  repoit  ran,  that  the 
savages  had  hanged  him  with  his  own  waist-rope.  At 
Montreal  he  met  Frontenac  and  interested  him  in  his  story,  and 
then  sailed  for  1 'ranee. 

By  the  following  snmmer  he  had  i)rcpared  a  mannscript  of 
his  adventnros,  and,  September  3,  permission  was 
given  to  him  in  Paris  to  jmt  it  to  press,  and  on  Jan- 
nr.ry  5,  1G83,  it  was  issned  as  a  JJcscription  de  la 
Loalddne.  It  is  probable  that  at  this  time  the  priest 
was  abiding  in  tho  convent  at  St.  (iermain-en-Laye.  Tlie  book 
is  accompanied  by  a  map,  which  has  some  noteworthy  featnres. 
One  is  tliat  tho  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  is  carried  so  far 
sonth  as  to  cover  the  pro])er  latitude  of  th(!  Ohio,  of  which  river 
the  map  shows  no  sign.  Indeed,  Hennepin  seems  to  have  missed 
a  trne  conception  of  that  stream,  for  he  says  it  is  in  the  country 
of  the  Irocpiois,  and  affords  a  passage  to  the  Sea  of  Florida.  It 
is  surprising  that  Hennepin  could  have  been  the  companion  of 
La  Salle  and  not  have  heard  of  the  latter's  visit  to  that  river 
fourteen  years  before,  unless,  indeed,  La  Salle  at  this  time  had 
no  conception  that  the  river  which  he  then  followed  flowed  into 
the  Mississippi.  If  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  had  ever 
been  tracked  by  exjilorers,  equipped  after  the  usual  fashion  of 
the  time  with  astrolabes,  it  is  also  surprising  that  some  record 
of  its  approximate  latitude  should  not  liave  been  known,  for 
Hennepin  could  hardly  have  failed  of  converse  with  Franqueliu 
when  he  was  at  Quebec  on  his  way  to  France,  and  that  car- 
tographer studiously  kept  abreast  of  the  increasing  knowledge 
of  these  distant  parts.  That  European  axemen  had  been  in  this 
region  just  about  this  time  has  been  claimed  by  Colonel  "Whittle- 
sey, because  of  the  discovery  in  numerous  places  of  trees  show- 
ing the  cuts  of  broad-bitted  axes  under  the  annual  ring,«,  which 
had  begun  as  early  as  this  period  to  overlay  the  wound.  It  is 
of  course  possible  that  such  implements  might  have  been 
wielded  by  the  savages  themselves,  and  procured  through  the 
Iroquois  from  the  English  mart  at  Albany. 

Another  noticeable  point  of  the  map  is  the  representation  of 
a  mission  station  far  north  of  the  source  of  the  ^Mississippi, 
where  it  is  certain  that  none  had  been  established,  or  at  least 


AfAP  OF  IGSS. 


279 


hrough  the 


there  is  no  record  of  such.     The  pluoingcf  it  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  pretension  on  the  part  of  the  Kecollect  Heimepin 


HENNEPIN,   1G83. 


tliat  his  order  had  outstripped  the  venturesome  Jesuits,  but  he 
prudently  removed  it  from  his  later  maps. 


i  i 


'  i  'I 

i    i      j  ' 


m% 


II  LUA 


W 


I  I 


■i     ii     ii 


'  If 


280     DVUITH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

Ill  tlu^  l)0(»k  itself,  lleimepiu  .sjieaU?*  of  cncoimteriiig  fttiir 
IiuliiuiH  on  Ilia  routo  who  luul  coino  from  a  place  four  liundnjil 
leagues  farther  west,  ami  had  been  four  months  on  the  way, 
and  they  had  assured  him  that  thoru  was  no  place  like  the 
Birnitsof  Stralts  of  Auiau,  such  as  was  put  down  on  tlio  maps. 
Auian.  llore  was  a  reference  to  an  old  problem  that  had  puz- 

zled many  generations  of  geographers.     If  Humboldt  has  cor- 
rectly divined  the  origin  of  the  mystery,  —  it  is  hard  to  bo 
satisfied  that  ho  has,  —  the  notion  had  arisen  as  early  as  1500, 
when  Cortereal  had  found  the  opening  of  Davis's  Strr.its,  that 
it  was  in  some  way  the  ingress  to  Asia,  and  was  called  the 
Straits  of  Ani.m.     It  is  certainly  a  long  time  after  that  before 
we  meet  the  name,  or  the  passage  itself,  in  cartographical  con- 
jecture, and,  indeed,  it  was  liardly  possible  that  it  could  have 
existed  on  the  majis  before  the  substantial  insularity  of  Nortli 
America  was  established.     It  was  then  i)laced  so  as  to  prefiguio 
the  later-found  Bering's  Straits,  only  considerably  farther  south. 
Kunniug  in  a  general  north  and  south  direction,  it  was  made 
to  form  a  passage  to  the  wide  expanse  of  water  which  in  the 
sixteenth  century  was  generally  believed  to  lie  along  the  north- 
ern confines  of  Canada.     It  is  found  in  this  position  in  the  map 
of  Zalterius  in  150(3.     The  interval  from  the  days  of  Cartier  to 
the  coming  of  Champlain,  when  almost  nothing  was  done  to 
clear  up  the  geograi)hy  of  the  northern  verge  of  Canada,  was 
wliL'u  conceptions  of  the  Straits  of  Anian,  traversing  or  opening 
to  this  region  from  the  Pacific  side,  were  most  rife.     It  got 
recognitiou  from  Mercator,  Ortelins,  Porcacchi,  and  Furlano, 
who  were  leading  geographers  of  those  days.     It  appeared  in 
the  maps  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Frobisher,  and  the  straits 
called  after  the  latter  were  supposed  to  connect  with  it.     Drake 
sought  it  in   1578  ;    and  six  years  latei,  when  Gali  made  a 
northern  sweep  f  vom  the  Philippines  to  Acapulco,  he  was  thought 
to  have  disproved  its  existenc'  by  the  breadth  which  he  found 
the  North  Pacific  to  have.     The  tendency  was  to  move  the  posi- 
tion of  the  straits  farther  north,  and  AV^ytfliet  in  the  first  Ameri- 
can  atlas  ( 1597)  reverted  to  the  old  notion,  which  was  kept  up 
later  l)y  Hondius  (1G13).     Thirty  years  afterwards  the  explo- 
rations of  De  Vries,  the  Dutch  navigator,  induced  people  to  think 
for  a  while  that  where  Gali  had  supposed  a  broad  ocean,  there 
was  really  a  Luge  island,  which  the  Spanish  navigator  did  not  go 


^ 


urn. 

oriiig  four 
r  liuudroil 
I  the  way, 
0  like  the 
tlio  maps. 
it  had  puz- 
It  lias  cor- 
lard  to  bo 
ly  as  1500, 
traits,  that 
called  the 
that  befo)-e 
phical  cou- 
jould  have 
Y  of  North 

0  prefiguio 
ther  south. 
;  was  made 
lich  in  the 
'  the  north- 
in  the  map 

Car  tier  to 
as  done  to 
anada,  was 
or  opening 
fe.  It  got 
d  Furlano, 
ppeared  in 

1  the  straits 
it.  Drake 
ili  made  a 
vas  thought 
X  he  found 
ve  the  posi- 
Eirst  Ameri- 
as  kept  up 
1  the  explo- 
ple  to  think 
)cean,  there 
:  did  not  go 


LAND   OF  JESSO 


far  enough  north  to  see.     This  was  thought  to  bo  of  almost  __._ 
tin«'ntal  extent,  l)arriug  access  to  the  boreal  rt,  ons  except  at  its 
eastern  and  western  extremities.     The  '.•luumel  on  the  American 
side  of  this  ishtud  thus  became  the  straits  so  long  searched  for. 
This  was  perhaps  the  prevalent  belief  wiieu   Hennepin  ques- 


n 


tioned  these  hardy  wanderers  from  the  distant  west   on   the 
upper  waters  of  the  IMiss'ssippi. 

While  recording  this  denial  of  the  straits'  existence,  ITenne- 
l)in  refers  to  the  failure,  as  he  understood  it,  of  both  the  Eno- 
lish  and  the  Dutch  to  find  such  a  passage  at  the  north,  but 
expresses  a  faith  that  by  pursuing  some  of  his  own  discoveries 


: 


■  ^  if 


I  ;  rv. 


m 


^ 


ili 


282    DULUTH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


a  river  would  yet  be  found  capable  of  floating  large  vessels  to 

I'ossing  the  equator,  Asia  could 


the  South  Sea,  wluire  without  ere 


be  reached.  "  It  is  most  likely,"  he  adds,  "  that  Japan  and 
America  are  one  continent,"  and  such  was  not  an  infrequent 
belief  in  some  form,  before  the  severance  of  Asia  and  America 
was  finally  established  by  Bering  near:^  fifty  years  later.  Hen- 
nepin wavered  in  his  dissent,  or  perhaps  his  editor  did  for  him, 
for  when  in  1G97  liis  new  edition  appeared,  he  adopted  the 
Dutch  notion  of  Jesse  —  as  the  intervening  island  already  men- 
tioned was  called  —  in  a  map  of  the  north  Pacific  which  is  given 
in  that  book. 

Hennepin's  reputation  with  posterity  has  rested  rather  upon 
Hennepin's  ^^^^^  later  edition  than  upon  his  original  of  1683,  and 
veracity.  ^^^^  |.^  jjjg  advantage.  In  this  earlier  book,  except- 
ing his  forcible  detention  by  the  Sioux,  which  La  Salle  found 
it  wor  a  while  to  discredit,  there  is  not  much  to  question. 
Parkman  calls  it  "  comparatively  truthful."  It  stands  reason- 
ably well  a  critical  test,  and  the  internal  evidence  is  in  its  favor. 
It  has  been  alleged  by  Margry  that  the  correspondence  in  the 
text  shows  a  closer  relation  to  an  account  written  by  La  Salle 
than  is  consistent  with  an  independent  relation ;  but  this  cor- 
respondence extends  to  events  of  which  Hennepin  had  personal 
knowledge,  and  La  Salle  had  not.  It  is  therefore  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  Hennepin  may  have  acted  as  a  scribe  for  La  Salle, 
."ind  that  each  used  the  same  record  for  his  own  purposes.  It 
is  hardly  worth  while  to  go  to  the  other  extreme  adopted  by  Shea 
in  charging  La  Salle  with  pilfering  from  Hennepin. 

The  map  which  accompanied  this  Description  omitted  the 
lower  parts  of  the  Mississippi  where  it  connected  itself  with  the 
gulf,  and  this  connection  was  only  suggested  by  a  dotted  line. 
The  Nouvelle  Dccouverte  of  1G97  is  the  Uescriji- 
tion  de  la  Louisiane  of  1683,  enlarged.  It  purports 
also  to  be  a  more  truthful  account  of  Hennepin's 
discoveries  than  he  felt  at  liberty  to  make  while  La  Salle,  whom 
he  looked  upon  as  an  enemy,  was  alive.  These  suppressed  state- 
ments, no  longer  withheld,  were  to  substantiate  his  new  map, 
which  boldly  re])resented  the  Mississippi  throughout  its  entire 
course  to  the  gulf.  There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  about 
the  time  of  issuing  his  first  book,  he  orally  professed  to  have 
descended  the  Mississippi ;  but  that  book  contains  only  a  regret 


Hennepin's 

Koiix'eUe 
Decouveile. 


HENNEPIN  AND  MEMBRJ&.  £88 

that  he  had  not  the  time  to  do  so.  The  statement  which  he 
now  prmted  represented  that  when  he  and  Accault  went  down 
the  Illinois  to  Its  mouth,  they  then  turned  downstream  and 
proceeded  to  the  outlet  of  the  Mississippi.  After  this,  return 
ing  to  the  starting-pla..,  they  went  up,  and  pursued  the  course 
which  had  induced  the  narrative  of  the  earlier  book.  This 
meant  provuted  the  dates  given  in  the  Description  were  cor- 
rect,  that  Hennepin  had,  within  the  thirty  days  which  wore  1 
lowed  for  the  exploit  paddled  thirty-hvo  hundred  mileZdown 
and  up  stream,  and  that  he  had  made  sixty  miles  a  day  when 

La  balle,  m  one  of  his  papers,  says  that  a  day's  travel  on  the 
river  means  seven  or  eight  leagues.   It  was  certain  this  difficulty 
would  be  noted  as  well  as  the  remarkable  secrecy  which  had 
been  maintained  in  his  first  book  regarding  the  undertaking 
Some  bluster  was  sufficient  to  meet  the  charge  respecting  the 
secrecy  and  this  was  abundantly  offered  in  the  Nou-  „. 
velle  Voyage,  which  was  printed  as  a  sort  of  supple-   ftS"'"" 
ment  the  next  year.     In  this  a  violent  preface  defended  hig 
claim  to  have  gone  down  the  Mississippi.    To  support  his  auda- 
city,  he  had  two  resources:  one  was  to  assert  that  the  distance 
was  not  what  it  was  supposed  to  be,  and  the  other  was  so  to 
change  his  dates  that  he  could  make  it  appear   that   he  had 
torty-three  days  instead  of  thirty  for  the  task. 

Curiously  enough,  he  boldly  in  the  Nouvdle  Voyanc  shifted 
the  charge  of  plagiarism  —  which  followed  upon  its  beino-  dis- 
covered  that  the  account  of  La  Salle's  own  voyage  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  Hennepin's 
narrative  -  upon  Leclercq,  in  whose  Premier  BtaUissnnent 
cle  la  Foy,  Hennepin's  text,  with  little  change,  had  recently  ap- 
peared,  as  a  journal  of  Membre,  the  companion  of  La  -^ 
Salle.  It  was  now  asserted  that  Hennepin  had  left  in  J""™'!^'* 
Quebec  an  account  of  his  own  experience  while  descending  the 
river  in  1680,  to  which  Leclercq  got  access,  and  converted  it  to 
his  purpose  in  describing  the  adventures  of  La  Salle  for  the  fol- 
lowing  year.  Dr.  Poolo.  who,  in  an  address  before  the  American 
Historical  Association  in  1888,  was  inclined  to  look  charitably 
on  the  charges  ordinarily  preferred  against  Hennepin,  frankly 
acknowledged  that  if  he  was  the  author  of  this  statement,  a 
defense  of  his  reputation  is  hopeless. 


li 


I! 


'  u  i 


I  ■ 


i  I 


I' 


!| 


284     DULUTH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

Sparks,  in  his  Life  of  La  Salle,  made  a  thorough  exposure 
of  the  correspondences  of  Hennepin's  narrative  with  the  journal 
of  Membre  as  given  by  Leclercq.  From  that  day  to  Parkman's 
Hennepin  has  usually  been  held  up  to  the  modern  reader's 
scorn.    Shea,  not  long  after  Sparks's  exposure,  went  so  far  as  to 


throw  discredit  upon  what  Hennepin  says  of  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi, and  to  doubt  if  he  ever  went  upon  its  waters  at  all. 

Of  late  there  have  been  persistent  efforts  to  restore  the  good 
Defense  of  name  of  Hennepin,  and  Shea,  to  make  amends  for  his 
Henuepin.     early  mistrust,  has  been  the  chief  advocate  of  these 


UPPI. 

.  exposure 
le  journal 
'arkman's 
a  reader's 
)  far  as  to 


r-N 


ter  Missis- 
all. 

3  the  good 
ids  for  his 
3  of  these 


MAP  OF  1697. 


285 


later  views.  The  argument  which  has  been  relied  upon  is  this : 
Hennepin  having  prepared  a  new  edition  of  his  I>escriptio7i,  the 
copy  was  left  with  the  publisher,  who,  to  add  to  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  book,  and  to  give  some  surprises  that  would  induce 
a  larger  sale,  subjected   it  to  further  remodeling  by  an  irre- 


sponsible editor.  It  was  the  work  of  this  literary  jobber  who, 
it  is  claimed,  interpolated  the  citations  from  Membre.  He  it 
w\is,  too,  who  added  to  the  book  the  parts  which  are  relied 
upon  to  prove  Hennepin's  audacity.  That  there  was  such  a 
mendacious  editor  is  supposed  to  be  shown  in  the  passages  which 


m 


'  ,t. 


I 


'i 

n 


1 


286 


DULUTH  AND  HENNEPIN  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


Nouvelle 

Voyage, 

1698. 


Hennepin,  as  a  Catholic,  could  not  have  written.  This  argu- 
ment is  not  a  strong  one,  for  Hennepin  was  quite  capable  of 
writing,  it  is  to  be  feared,  much  that  one  would  not  suppose 
him  to  write.  The  other  argument  is  stronger,  for  it  is  founded 
on  a  comparison  of  type  and  other  signs  of  the  printing-office, 
to  show  that  these  questionable  parts  were  not  set  up  in  the 
same  office,  or  at  least  at  the  same  time,  with  those  which  are 
not  questioned.  It  does  not  certainly  follow  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  Hennepin  could  not  have  done  even  this,  though 
his  defenders  would  fain  think  that  he  could  not.  It  is  reason- 
able perhaps  to  suppose,  if  Hennepin  had  found  his  name  was 
used  to  inflict  a  wrong,  that  he  would  have  in  some  way  recti- 
fied the  error,  or  at  least  have  prevented  the  repetition  of  it  in 
the  numerous  editions  of  the  text  which  followed,  or  were  trans- 
formed by  translations.  He  certainly  busied  himself  with  no 
such  purpose,  and  winced  not  a  little  under  the  imputations  of 
fraud  which  early  beset  him.  The  Nouvelle  Voyage 
of  1098  returned  to  the  task  of  imposing  on  the  public. 
His  defenders  resort  to  the  supposition  that  this  book 
was  under  the  same  evil  influences  of  a  hireling  publisher  as 
the  one  of  the  previous  year,  and  that  Hennepin  had  no  more 
to  do  with  its  impositions  than  with  the  earlier  ones. 

Meanwhile,  pursued,  as  is  represented,  by  the  enmity  of  the 
provincial  of  his  order  in  Paris,  either  through  the  influence  of 
La  Salle  or  because  of  some  recalcitrancy  of  his  own,  Hennepin 
had  thrown  himself  into  the  service  of  William  III.  of  Eng- 
land, whom  he  had  known  in  the  Netherlands,  and  simultane- 
TheNexo  ousij  ^  Combination  of  the  books  of  1G97  and  1G98 
jH>cov.r„  ^j^g  brought  out  in  English  at  London,  as  The  Neio 
Discovery.,  and  the  imposition  went  on. 

Membre's  journal  is  very  like  a  lielation  which  is  preserved 
in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine  at  Paris,  which  Parkman  suspects 
was  La  Salle's  official  report,  drawn  up  perhaps  by  Membre, 
if  indeed  it  was  not  written  by  La  Salle  himself,  as  some  sup- 
pose.  That  Hennepin  got  access  to  this  in  the  manuscript,  and 
wrs  not  compelled  to  draw  upon  Leclercq's  printed  volume,  is 
not  unlikely,  though  it  has  been  alleged  that  he  more  confi- 
dently used  the  book  of  Leclercq  because  the  chance  of  detec- 
tion was  decreased  from  the  suppression  of  that  printed  narra- 
tive.     There  is  certainly  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  authorship  of 


MEMBRlt  AND   THE  RELATION.  287 

i\m  Melation,- it  is  given  by  Margry,-an(l  just  precisely 
what  are  the  separate  or  combined  connections  of  La  Salle 
Membre  and  Hennepin  with  it  is  open  to  conjecture.  It  was 
very  likely  a  compilation  from  various  sources,  made  in  Paris 
for  presentation  to  Colbert,  and  perhaps  put  in  shape  by  the 
Abbe  Bernon,  as  has  been  alleged. 


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IN 


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I 


V 


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(!! 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

LA   SALLE,   FRONTENAC,   AND   LA   BARRE. 

lG81-i683. 

A  WEARY,  disheartening  winter  lay  before  La  Salle  at  his 
1081.  Ln  post  in  the  Iliami  country.  He  had  left  the  wreck 
M'ilmi"coun-  ^f  his  fortunes  on  the  Illinois.  There  were  no  tid- 
^^^-  ings   of  his  faitliful  Tonty,  though  a  jiiece  of   sawn 

wood  which  he  had  seen  on  the  Kankakee  gave  nim  hope  that 
his  friend  had  passed  that  way.  La  Salle  knew  how  the  story 
of  his  misfortunes  would  sap  the  spirits  of  his  distant  friends. 
Those  who  had  risked  money  on  his  undertaking  were  to  be 
appeased.  He  had,  during  the  autumn,  written  to  one  such, 
assuring  him  that  profits  would  surely  come,  if  he  would  only 
be  patient.  "I  am  disgusted  at  being  always  compelled  to 
make  excuses,"  he  wrote,  "  but  I  hope  you  will  get  other 
information  of  how  things  are  going  on  here,  beside  what  the 
Jesuits  give  you."  He  advised  his  supporter  to  send  some  one 
out  who  could  take  an  intelligent  view  of  the  situation.  He 
did  not  greatly  encourage  such  a  creditor,  I  suspect,  when  he 
acknowledged  that  he  had  little  business  skill  of  his  own,  and 
knew  nothing  about  bookkeeping  ! 

When  he  reached  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph,  in  Janr.ary, 
1681,  he  found  La  Forest  with  his  party  occupying  it.  They 
were  getting  out  timber  for  a  new  vessel,  and  had  repaired  the 
defenses  of  the  post.  In  the  neigliborhood  there  were  a  few 
New  England  Indians  hutted  for  the  winter.  They  were  out- 
casts tliat  had  fled  west  after  the  failure  of  King  Philip's  war, 
and  were  mainly  Mohegans  and  Abenakis.  La  Salle  won  a 
staunch  friend  among  them,  and  his  jNIohegan  hunter  long 
merited  his  confidence. 

Dethroned  almost  from  leadership  as  he  was,  La  Salle's 
steadfast  spirit  was  planning  how  he  might  head  a  league  of  the 


He  at  his 
;he  wreck 
5  no  tid- 
of  sawn 
hope  that 
the  story 
t  friends, 
ere  to  be 
one  such, 
3uld  only 
pelled  to 
get  other 
what  the 
some  one 
ion.  Pie 
when  he 
own,  and 

Janr.ary, 
it.  They 
)aired  the 
ere  a  few 
w^ere  oiit- 
lip's  war, 
le  won  a 
nter  long 

la   Salle's 
jue  of  the 


LA   SALLE  FINDS   TONTY. 

Miamis  and  other  western  savages,  in  the  hope  that  it  could 
roll  back  the  tide  of  Iroquois  success.  Perhaps  he  could  work 
upon  them  through  his  faithful  Mohegans.  In  March, 
he  started  on  towards  the  Illinois,  full  of  this  hope.'  S?S 
On  the  way,  he  met  a  band  of  the  Foxes,  and  from  "''"""°"*- 
them  learned  that  Hennepin  had  passed  through  their  country 
from  the  Sioux  region,  and  that  Tonty  was  among  the  Potta- 
wattamies.  These  tidings  hurried  him  on.  He  laid  liis  plans 
before  the  Illinois,  and  then,  coming  back  to  the  Miamis,  en- 
deavored  to  enlist  their  sympathies  with  those  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Indians  that  were  scattered  about  the  country.  He  felt 
that  he  had  accomplished  something,  and,  leaving  the  plot  to 
ripen,  he  started  from  Fort  Miami  toward  the  end  of  ,„«,  j„„^ 
May,  and  made  his  way  to  Mackinac.  There  he  '■'■"■'^T'l'^ty 
found  Tonty  and  Membre,  and  spent  awhile  in  talldnir  »■"!  "•'■'mm 

."I*  •i»-i  -w  oto  Fort 

over  their  varied  mishaps.  It  was  now  June,  1081.  ^ronteuac 
Membrd  gives  us  a  picture  of  La  Salle  bearing  up,  as  he  saw 
him,  under  his  accumulated  burdens.  In  this  courageous  frame 
of  mind,  he  and  Tonty  left  Mackinac,  and  undertook  a  thou- 
sand miles  of  canoeing  to  his  seigneury  at  Cataraqui.  Here  he 
addressed  himself  to  repairing  his  credit  and  getting  a  new 
outfit.  He  offered  his  creditors  a  lien  upon  his  estate  and  dis- 
covered new  resources,  making  his  will  at  the  same  time  in 
favor  of  cue  of  his  chief  abettors,  a  cousin,  for  whom  he  seems 
to  have  had  much  consideration. 

It  was  at  this  time  (August  22)  that  he  wi-ote  a  letter 
which  Margry  assigns  to  the  following  year,  but  its  contents  be- 
long clearly  to  this  period.  The  letter  is  given  largely  to  com- 
plaining of  Duluth,  whom  he  accuses  of  boastfully 
claiming  for  his  discoveries  in  the  Sioux  region  what  "'/H-n™ 
La  Salle  thinks  should  be  rather  credited  to  his  own  fu"gu8t^with 
agents,  Accault  and  Htnnepin.  Just  what  La  Salle  ^"'""'" 
had  to  depend  ui)on  for  a  knowledge  of  Hennepin's  movements 
is  not  clear,  for  the  priest  had  before  this  passed  on  to  Quebec 
and  France.  It  is  possible  that  the  priest  left  some  narrative 
for  La  Salle.  We  know  that  he  later  left,  or  said  he  left,  a 
duplicate  statement  with  another  priest  at  Queliec.  Accault's 
account  is  thought  to  be  embodied  in  the  Dcrnieres  Dicou- 
verteii  (Paris,  1697)  which  Tonty,  to  whom  it  was  ascribed,  dis- 
owned. This  narrative  may  at  this  time  have  been  accessible  to 
La  Salle. 


•  a 


m 


290 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTS N AC,  AND  LA  BAliliE. 


I 


U<i\ 


I 


There  was  another  grievance  on  La  Salle's  part,  —  he  was 
seldom  without  such  troubles,  —  in  that  Duluth,  beside  boasting, 
as  ho  said,  of  his  discoveries,  was  undertaking  to  open  commu- 
nication with  the  Sioux  country  through  the  Illinois  region, 
over  which  La  Salle  claimed  a  prescriptive  right,  and  with 
whose  trade  he  could  allow  no  one  to  interfere.  La  Salle 
claimed  further  to  have  established  a  right  to  kill  buffalo  on 
the  Wisconsin,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  such  interlopers  as 
Duluth. 

There  was  much  in  this  arrogant  spirit  of  La  Salle,  notwith- 
standing some  validity  in  his  claim,  to  make  his  enemies  all 
the  more  clamorous.  La  Salle  never  succeeded  in  holding  an 
easy  mastery  over  other  than  his  nearest  friends.  Charlevoix 
tells  us  that  La  Salle's  enemies  darkened  his  character  beyond 
the  power  of  his  friends  to  lighten  its  traits.  There  was  no 
Lb  Salle  and  ^^^  upou  whom  La  Salle  bestowed  severer  objurga- 
tiie  Jesuits.    ^jQj^g  ^jj^^  ^^p^j^  Allouez  and  his  Jesuit  abettors.     He 

charged  all  his  adversities  largely  upon  their  machinations. 
He  avowed  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  report  false  rumors  of 
his  own  and  Tonty's  death. 

Tt  was  in  August  that  La  Salle  was  once  more  on  his  way 
ir.8i,  Auj<u8t.  ^®^**  -^^  ^^^^  according  to  one  account,  fifty-four 
starts  weBt  '  persons  in  his  train,  and  twenty-three  of  them  were 
French.  His  Indians  were  wholly  from  New  Eng- 
land. He  may  have  gathered  recruits  on  his  way,  for  another 
statement,  written  by  iiim  to  a  friend,  gives  him  thirty  French- 
men and  a  hundred  Indians,  some  of  them  Shawnees,  and  all, 
Nov.  3.  At  he  said,  were  handy  with  gims.  On  November  3,  he 
Fort  Miami.  ^^^  ^^  Yort  Miami,  and  Tonty  and  Membre  were  with 
him.  Here  he  divided  his  party.  Tonty  and  Membre  with 
most  of  the  train  pushed  around  the  head  of  the  lake,  a  hundred 
miles,  to  the  Chicago  River,  and  thence  dragged  their  burdens 
over  eighty  leagues  of  the  frozen  streams  to  the  Illinois.  On 
1G82,  Jan.,  J^^^^ary  4,  1682,  La  Salle  himself  joined  them  by  the 
cttLtnt  I^ankakee  route.  They  found  open  water  for  their 
SEtusippl  canoes  when  they  reached  the  ruins  of  Crevecoeur,  and 
on  February  6  they  glided  out  upon  the  Mississippi, 
known  at  this  time  as  the  Colbert  River.  Here  they  were 
entangled  in  the  ice-floes  for  several  days,  but  at  last  the  chan- 


ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


291 


nel  cleared,  and  they  went  on.  Passing  the  mouth  of  the  Osage 
(Missouri),  Membie  records  that  beyond  the  mountains,  where 
it8  sources  are,  "  great  ships  are  seen."  They  passed  the  Ohio, 
but  La  Salle  does  not  seem  to  have  comprehended  that  it  was 
the  stream  he  liad  found  in  1G69,  for  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  he  supposed  the  river  which  at  that  time  he  followed  made 
its  way  to  the  sea  by  some  basin  east  of  the  Mississii)pi,  and  he 
had  apparently  communicated  this  belief  to  Hennepin.  He  was 
impelled  to  this  notion  by  finding  no  large  river  south  of  the 
Ohio  flowing  into  the  Mississippi  from  the  east,  corresponding 
to  the  ample  currents  of  the  Red  and  Arkansas  rivers  on  the 
west.     He  did  not  yet,  and  probably  never  did,  comprehend  the 


BASIN  OF  THE  GRE.*T  LAKES  (1C83?). 
[Sketched  from  the  Parkman  copy  of  a  map  in  the  Arohivea  of  the  Marine  at  Paris.] 

river  systems  which  drain  the  mountainous  region  west  of  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  by  channels  which  feed  the  Ohio  and  urge 
their  waters  on  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  a  paper  which  he 
wrote  about  this  time,  given  by  Margry,  he  seems  to  have  known 
of  the  Wabash  as  a  northern  affluent  of  the  Ohio,  but  appar- 
ently confounds  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  by  making  them 
a  single  southern  branch. 

Late  in  February,  they  were  at  the  third  Chickasaw  bluff. 
Here  one  of  his  men,  strolling  off,  got  lost  in  the  woods,  and  was 
for  a  while  supposed  to  have  been  carried  off  by  the  Indians. 
They  built  meanwhile  a  stockade  on  the  bluff,  and,  their 
companion  being  at  last  discovered,  it  was  called  after  1^^^' 
him,  Fort  Prudhomme.     They  left  him  in  command  ^'"^''"""-"''- 


I 


In 


id    ■ 


li 


292 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


I 


i'J 


1  t     i 

1. " ' " 


of  it,  when  tliey  went  on.  By  tlie  middlo  ot  March  (1G82)  they 
Ma-h.  '^®^®  ^"  *'*°  region  of  the  Arkansas  Indians.  One  day 
ASaH'!"  ?'^^"  «0"^^1  «eo  nothing  for  a  thick  fog,  when  through 
it  came  suddenly  from  one  bank  the  cries  of  Indian 
revelry.  Cautiously  paddling  to  the  other  shore,  they  landed, 
and  barricaded  themselves  on  the  river's  edge.  The  fog,  lifting, 
revealed  to  the  revelers  their  unwonted  visitors.  The  savages 
resjiected  the  calumet,  and  the  wanderers  coming  among  them 
were  struck  with  the  fine  shapes  of  their  naked  bodies.  They 
tarried  awhile  for  feasts  and  merriments,  in  the  midst  of  which, 
not  forgetting  a  loftier  ambition,  La  Salle  set  up  a  post,  and 
March.  hung  upou  it  thy  arms  of  France.  We  have  the  offi- 
sessfoii'of'"  cial  record  of  the  transaction  (March  14)  in  Margry, 
lecouDtry.    ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  j^^^^  ^j^^  wholc  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 

was  once  more  mortgaged  to  the  power  of  the  French.  Father 
Membre  erected  a  cross  in  the  village.  "  Though  he  could  not 
sjieak  their  language,"  says  a  trustful  Catholic,  "  he  succeeded 
in  ac(]uainting  them  with  the  existence  of  the  true  God  !  " 

Two  of  the  Indians  offering  themselves  as  guides,  the  party 
Among  the  paddlcd  OH  for  three  hundred  more  miles,  and  then 
Taensas.  landed  to  visit  a  town  of  the  Taensas,  situated  on  a 
neighboring  lagoon.  Tonty  paid  a  visit  of  ceremony  to  the  chief, 
and  found  the  houses  of  his  people  built  of  sun-burnt  clay,  — 
the  first  they  had  seen.  The  little  native  potentate,  in  returning 
the  civility,  paid  the  Frenchmen  a  visit  with  such  state  as  be- 
fitted a  man  who  could  have  two  bearers  of  white  fans  march 
Among  the     hefore  him.    Passing  on,  they  were  after  a  while  among 

the  Natchez.  In  their  ways  of  life  and  worship,  this 
people  impressed  them  more  than  any  tribe  they  had  yet  seen. 
The  French  accounts  speak  of  the  religious  caste  among  them., 
and  of  a  building  wliich  they  dignified  by  calling  it  a  temple. 
La  Salle  confidently  slept  in  their  village,  and  with  equal  conii- 
dence  set  up  another  column  of  French  authority.  On  the  last 
of  March  they  passed  the  mouth  of  Ked  River. 

They  were  now  among  a  people  not  so  peaceful,  and  on 
April.  At-  April  2  they  received  a  shower  of  arrows,  but  without 
tacked.  disaster.  On  the  6th  they  found  the  river  dividing 
into  three  channels,  and  separating  their  company  La  Salle  led 
The  party      0"^  party  down  the    westerly  passage,   Tonty  with 

Membre  and  others  took  the  middle,  while  Dautray 


divides. 


-^m^il 


LIMITS  OF  LOUISIANA. 


293 


G82) they 
Ouo  day 
n  through 
of  Indian 
y  landed, 
>g,  lifting, 

0  savages 
long  them 
2S.  They 
of  which, 
post,  and 
B  the  offi. 
iMargry, 
[ississippi 
.  Father 
3ould  not 
nicceeded 
I!" 

the  party 
and  then 
ited  on  a 
the  chief, 
t  clay,  — 
returning 
ite  as  he- 
ns march 
ile  among 
ship,  this 
yet  seen. 
ng  them, 
V  temple, 
ual  conix- 

1  the  last 

and  on 

;  without 
dividing 
Salle  led 
nty  with 
Dautray 


conducted  the  rest  along  the  most  easterly  current.     Presently 
the  water  grew  from  brackish  to  salt,  and  they  knew  they  were 
approaching  the  sea.    On  the  9th  they  all  reunited,  and 
just  within  one  of  th.o  outlets  they  made  ])r('parati(ms  c.'**rm.mry"' 
for  a  ceremony,  long  thought  of.     The  customary  col-  "f  um  mu-"* 
umn  was  set  up,  proclanuition  was  made  in  the  name  "'"''''''' 
of  the  king,  and  France  assumed  the  kind  of  domination  that 
comes  of  such  ceremonies,  over  the  entive  water-shed  of  the  great 
river.     It  was  a  confirmation  of  the  lessor  claim  which   La 
Salle  had  only  recently  made  among  the  Arkansas,  and  which 
Duluth  had  made  in  the  country  of  the  Sioux,  —  a  -nore  defi- 
nite assumption  certainly  than  that  which  St.  Lusson  had  pro- 
claimed in  so  vainglorious  a  fashion  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Mario 
eleven  years  before.     The  Vexilla  Jicfjts  and   Te  Deum  were 
sung  as  usual,  the  notary  drew  up  the  record,  and  a  vast  stretch 
of  territory  passed  into  history  as  Louisiana.      A  leaden  plate, 
with  engraved  testimony  to  the  act,  was  buried  at  the  foot  of 
the  column.    Membre  tells  us  that  La  Salle  took  the  latitude 
with  his  astrolabe,  and  the  party  supposed  it  to  be  between 
the  parallels  of  27°  and  28°  ;  but  their  leader  did  not  disclose 
the  exact  position.     They  thought  that  the  Bay  of  Espiritu 
Santo  lay  northeast  of  them,  and  that  vagrant  name  doubtless 
here  meant  the  Bay  of  Mobile.     The  nearest  settled  post  of 
the  Spaniards  was  thought  to  be  Panuco,  ninety  to  a  hundred 
leagues  to  the  west.     Jusc  what  was  determined  to  be  the  limit 
of  this  vast  territory  appeared  when  Franquelin  worked  over  all 
the  evidence,  and  marked  the  extent  in  his  great  map  of  1684. 
By  this  the  French  claim  was  bounded  by  the  Gulf  of  Limits  ot 
Mexico  westward  to  the  liio  Grande,  thence  north-  Louisiana. 
westerly  to  the  rather  vague  water-shed  of  what  we  now  know 
as  the  Rocky  Mountains,  with  an  indefinite  line  along  the  sources 
of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  its  higher  affluents,  bounding  on 
the  height  of  land  which  shut  off  the  valley  of  the  Great  Lakes 
till  the  Appalachians  were  reached.      Following  these  moun- 
tains  south,  the  line  skirted  the  northerr  'imits   of   Spanish 
Florida  and  then  turned  to  the  gulf.    Such  dimensions  disclosed 
a  marvelous  domain.      At   the  nortli,  the  headwater?         ma 
great  river  were  still  unknown,  and  were  long  to  reLi,,;  •  > 
They  wero  la  a  region  where  the  mean  temperature  of  the  year 
was  40°  Fahrenheit,  and  at  the  gulf  it  was  72°.     This  stretch 


iji 


■k 


"^••'^..1 


294 


LA  SALLE,  FIIONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


of  twelve  hundred  miles  ran  from  corn  to  oranges,  from  syca- 
mores to  palmettos.  The  Hood  that  coursed  this  enormous  ba- 
sin was  QUO  of  the  world's  largest,  draining  an  area  of  more  than 


.r^ 


\L 


\ 


'^. 


J 


■> 


"5«; 


•nS 


f 


/^ 


/ 


-J    «i    C3 


,xi) 


.N 


V 


.r-^ 


iiaDii" 


»•     .  tl 


1 1 


^ 


^ 


<^. 


^ 


^ 


I     ! 


'^(^'-^Oi' 


FKANQUELIN,  16S4, 

CSXuH.'h!.cl  horn  th-  Parkman  copy  of  the  original  (now  lost)  in  the  Archives  of  tlie  Marine  at 
nm^"  ;'■"*'"•'"■•  "-losely  one  iu  the  Miuistire  des  Affaires  Etraageres  o£  similar  title,  No. 
7820.     it  'ift  D>  i'i-anqueliu,  it  was  doubtlesa  made  from  hia  drafts.] 


^^^ 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  MOUTHS. 


from  syca- 

Jimou.s  ba- 

uioro  thau 


296 


si 


'oiaDii 


kV 


tlie  Marine  ut 
jlar  title,  No, 


twolvo  hundred  and  fifty  tl^ousand  square  miles,  which  sent 
twenty  nulhon  of  millions  cubic  feet  of  water  annually  into  the 
sea.  Jklow  the  Ohio,  the  rise  and  full  of  the  current  wa.s  forty 
or  fifty  feet.  ^ 

La  Salle  had  been  the  first  of  Frenchmen  to  reach  the  mouth 
of  the  great  river,  and  fifty  years  had  passed  since  his  conn- 
trymen  on  the  St.  Lr.wrencc  had  begun  to  dream  of  this  mys- 
tenous  river  an,^  to  debate  about  its  outlet.  A  pap.-r  vvlich 
Margry  pnnts  sliows  that  La  Salle  was  acquainted  with  the 
narrative  of  Do  Soto's  adventures,  opening  to  Spanish  ac.ruaiut- 
ance  the  circuit  of  the  gulf,  a  century  and  a  half  before. 

After  La  Salle  had  passed  on  to  the  river's  mouth,  through 
forests  of  cypresses  hung  with  moss,  and  when  he  experienced 
what  a  tremulous  ooze  its  swamps  and  bayous  afforded,  he  found 
It  difficult  to  suppose  the  river  which  he  had  coursed  was  the  one 
which  De  Soto  had  known.  This  unbelief  was  further  reason 
for  hiin  to  suspect  that  another  great  valley  lay  to  the  east  of 
the  MississipjM. 

It  is  rather  striking  that  New  England  Indians,  outcast  by 
their  tribes'  reverses,  and  sent  as  homeless  wanderers  ^  eno  o 
to  the  west,  should  have  looked  on  at  this  far-reach-  Ne«"j^iK.' 
ing  act  upon  the  delta  of  the  Mississii)pi,  for  by  it  La  a»«'^'"'^'' 
SaUe  secured  to  France  that  "  Acadian  coast  "  as  an  asylum 
for  that  other  luckless  race  of  the  eastern  seaboard  whom  the 
struggle  between  France  and  England  was  destined  to  throw 
upon  its  banks,  seventy-five  years  later. 

At  the  time  of  tl-e  discussion  which  arose  under  the  treaty  of 
1768,  the  fact  of  thxs  attendance  of  New  England  Indians  in 
La  Salle's  train  was  brought  up  as  indicative  —  but  certainly 
without  proof —  of  earlier  English  knowledge  of  this  outlet  of 
the  great  valley,  which  had  been  gained  in  company  with  these 
same  Indians.  It  was  alleged  that  in  revenge  for  the  reverses 
at  the  hands  of  the  English  in  the  war  which  drove  them  from 
their  soil,  they  now  led  the  French  to  their  great  discovery ! 

La  Salle  started  to  return  with  gloomy  prospects.    Food  was 
scarce,  and  some  dried  meat  which  they  found  proved  j^a  saiie 
to  be  human  flesh.    They  put  up  instead  with  alligator  "'"■'"'^ 
steaks.    They  fought  the  Indians  for  something  to  sustain  them 


% 


■prf 


296 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


4t* 


3  il*(7  I  ^  ^  ^  3Q 


3 


LA   SALLE'S  RETURN. 


297 


in  one  place,  and  barely  escaped  a  fatal  encounter  at  anotlier. 
La  Salle  represents  that  as  he  approached  the  country  of  the 
Arkansas,  ho  took  the  west  channel,  where  a  large  island  divided 
the  stream,  because  he  had  left  some  equipments  on  that  side 
in  going  down.  Here  he  pushed  ahead  of  the  others,  taking 
two  canoes  with  him.  When  he  reached  Fort  Prudhomme, 
he  fell  ill,  and  for  forty  days  his  life  was  despaired  of.  Mera- 
bre  watched  him  tenderly  through  it  all,  while  Tonty  was  sent 
ahead  to  carry  the  news  of  the  discoveiy.  By  the  end 
of  July,  La  Salle  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  start  |';,^f"-  'l* 
on.  Passing  by  Fort  Miami,  he  rejoined  Tonty  at  St.  ^8"a<."!  ' 
Ignace,  in  September. 

La  Salle  was  still  weak  from  his  illness,  and  he  tells  us  that  he 
was  hardly  himself  for  four  months.  He  i..  ght  have  gone  on 
and  carried  "-.he  details  of  his  expedition  to  Quebec,  but  there  was 
need  of  his  returning  to  the  Illinois.  This  necessity  probably 
prompted  him  to  write  out  what  passes  for  his  official 
report,  preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine  at  "'"*''°"' 
Paris.  A  delation  which  rendered  the  narrative  in  the  third 
person,  and  which  Thomassy  was  the  first  to  publish,  has  ai)par- 
ently  a  pretty  close  connection  with  the  paper  in  the  Archives 
of  the  Marine.  It  may  be  that  the  Membrd  journal,  as  printed 
in  Le  Clercq,  is  derived  from  the  same  .source.  It  was  first  given 
to  the  English  reader  in  Shea's  Discovery  of  the  3IississippL 

It  was  not  long  before  Tonty  was  sent  back  to  the  Illinois  to 
found  a  colony,  as  tlie  best  way  to  ..fcure  and  organize  the  pos- 
session of  the  country.  In  a  letter  which  La  Salle  had  just 
(October,  1682)  dispatched  to  France,  he  had  hinted 
at  an  expedition  which  he  might  yet  make  by  water  LTsaiie-s 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  so  as  to  establish  a  complemen-  '"'""''' 
tal  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  two  colonies 
would  then  be  in  proper  correlation  to  one  another,  and  trade 
could  be  carried  on  between  these  two  extremes  of  Louisiana, 
and  brought  into  easy  communication  with  France,  —  more  easy 
than  could  be  possible  by  the  uncertain  and  laborious  passage 
by  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  closed  as  it  was  bv  ico 
during  so  large  a  part  of  tlio  year.  The  proposed  movement  in 
turn  fell  in  with  the  wishes  of  some  in  authority  to  secure  tlio 
outlet  of  the  great  valley  against  both  the  Spanish  and  the 
Enti'lish. 


I 


■ill 


ill  li 


298 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


A  contingency  very  soon  made  it  evident  to  La  Salle  that  his 
presence  was  needed  in  support  of  Tonty's  mission,  for  rumors 
had  reached  him  at  IMackinac  that  the  Iroquois  were  a-ain 
raidmg  westward  and  threatening  the  Illinois.  * 

Frontenac  in  the  last  months  of  his  po.ver  saw  that  his  con- 
trol  of  tlie  Iroquois  was  slipping  from  his  hands.     He  wrote  to 
the  home  government  that  for  ten  years  his  policy  with  the 
Indians  had  been  successful,  but  that  a  military  force  of  some 
five  or  SIX  hundred  men  was  absolutely  necessary  if  his  control 
was  to  go  on  for  another  ten  years.    There  was  nothing  incensed 
the  confederates  more  than  the  movement  which  La  Salle  was 
making  in  the  lAIississippi  valley.     Scarcely  a  French  trader 
could  enter  that  country  and  escape  the  vigilance  of  the  Iro- 
quois.    They  even  dared  to  ambush  the  French  canoes  on  Lake 
tTEngiisf  ^^^^™-     Meanwhile  the  English  allurements  were 
growing  stronger  and  stronger,  and  the  savage  confed- 
erates were  entering  into  mutual  obligations  with  distant  settlers 
of  that  race  in  Maryland. 

The  king  was^  fast  losing  patience  with  the  way  in  which 
Bad  con.       ^^^^^^^  ^  Canada,  with  a  population  that  had  grown  to 
catda.'       ''^^^"S  ten  thousand,  seemed  to  be  going  from  worse  to 
worse.     Her  trade  with  the  West  Indies  had  about 
come  to  a  standstill,  and  home  farming  was  in  no  better  plight. 
If  the  government  distributed  seed,  it  was  left  to  rot,  and  was 
not  planted.     If  the  church  was  paternal,  it  claimed  for  obser- 
vances all  but  about  ninety  days  of  the  growing  season,  which 
was  short  enough  at  the  best.    The  passion  of  the  young  men  for 
the  woods  was  uncontrollable;  and  it  was  estimated  that  at  least 
eiglit  hundred  youngsters,  fitted  to  till  the  soil,  were  scamper- 
ing wildly  in  the  forests,  doing  good  to  no  one,  and  destroying 
the  regular  channels  of  trade  with  the  Indians.     They  were 
carrying  brandy  to  the  braves  and  debauching  them,  and  tlie 
law  against  it  could  not  be  enforced.     The  girls  who  were  left 
unmarried  in  the  settlements  were  hartUy  less  idle,  and  no  one 
taught  them  to  weave  or  to  spin. 

His  royal  master  more  than  once  wrote  to  Frontenac  that 
everybody  complained  of  him,  and  none  more  than  the  intend- 
ant.  Affairs  were  no  better  when  Colbert,  who  had  always 
admonished  Duchesneau  as  if  he  were  a  child,  resigned,  and  his 
son  Seignelay  took  charge  of  the  colonial  business.    This  change 


IE. 

ialle  that  his 

,  for  rumors 

were  again 

that  his  con- 
Fle  wrote  to 
cy  with  the 
roe  of  some 
his  control 
ng  incensed 
ia  Salle  was 
Bnch  trader 
of  the  Iro- 
)es  on  Lake 
inents  were 
age  confed- 
tant  settlers 

Y  in  which 
ad  grown  to 
>m  worse  to 
had  about 
tter  plight, 
ot,  and  wag 
1  for  obser- 
ison,  which 
ng  men  for 
hat  at  least 
•e  scamper- 
destroying 
riiey  were 
m,  and  the 
3  were  left 
ind  no  one 

tonac  that 
the  intend- 
ad  always 
!d,  and  his 
his  change 


GOVERNOR  LA  BARRE. 


the 


for  La  Salle : 


299 

7  for 


ministry  was  not  an  auspicious 
Frontenac,  for  it  gave  new  opportunities  for  crimination  and 
recrimination.  Duchesneau  lost  no  time  in  renewing  his 
charges  against  the  governor.  He  intimated  that  Frontenac 
and  La  Salle  were  conspiring  together  to  keep  up  the  war  be- 
tween the  Iroquois  and  the  Illinois,  in  order  to  further  their 
projects  of  trade.  Frontenac  wrote  to  the  perplexed  monarch 
that  it  was  the  enemies  of  La  Salle  and  the  English  who  were 
instigating  these  savage  hostilities.  In  fact,  there  was  little  to 
choose  bet\/een  these  mutual  accusers.  The  fur  trade  had 
always  demoralized  the  whole  people,  and  there  could  be  no 
improvement  so  long  as  the  government  imposed  impracticable 
restraints.  There  was  hardly  a  family  in  Canada  that  was  not 
interested  'a  this  illicit  commerce  and  had  not  a  member  in  the 
woods,  and  the  English  traders  at  Albany  were  profiting  from 
it  all.  Nothing  could  be  more  natural,  when,  as  Duchesneau 
informed  the  king,  beaver  was  worth  nearly  double  in  Albany 
what  it  was  in  Quebec.  Frontenac  told  him  much  the  same 
story,  for  he  said  that  the  English  rated  beaver  at  about  a 
third  more  than  the  French,  and  they  counted  the  merchandise 
which  they  used  in  exchange  at  not  more  than  half  the  value  of 
the  French.  With  this  tax,  how  could  Canada  compete  ?  And 
who  could  say  that  even  the  governor  and  his  friends  were  not 
using  their  position  to  trade  with  Albany  ? 

Duchesneau's  remedy  was  to  destroy  their  rival  by  buying  his 
country,  and  he  urged  upon  the  minister  at  home  the  purchase 
both  of  New  England  and  of  Manhattan  and  Orange  (Albany). 
I5ut  it  was  not  left  for  Frontenac  to  deal  with  the  approaching 
questions.      Already,  in   May  (1G82),  the  king  had 
commissioned  a  new  governor,  and  had  given  him  his  BarVe  gov- 
instructions.     These  were  to  make  a  show  of  power  to 
impress  the  Iroquois,  but  to  avoid  a  war  if  possible,  and  by  all 
means  to  preserve  quiet  among  the  Illinois. 

It  was  August,  and  Quebec  was  trying  to  recover  from  the 
horrors  of  a  great  fire  in  the  town,  which,  in  destroy-  g^^i^gg 
ing  fifty-five  houses,  had  swept  away  half  the  property  '*""'■ 
of  the  colony.  Just  at  this  juncture,  the  new  ruler,  to  replace 
Frontenac,  arrived.  La  Barre  was  a  soldier,  who  had  done  good 
service  'Against  the  English  in  the  West  Indies,  but  he  was  no 
longer  young  and  agile  in  body  or  Uiind.     He  was  sixty  years 


r 


I  !i 


i!rl 


:  :      l:J 

1  '  ■  I 

m 


I 


i  I 


..     I 


f 


'n 


I    ! 


300 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  DARRE. 


old.  lie  had  been  a  lawyer  once,  and  perhaps  that  rendered 
him  timid  in  facing  new  problems  and  taking  responsibilities. 
The  Indians  soon  discovered  that  the  vigor  they  had  been 
accustumed  to  respect  in  Frontenac  was  gone.  The  king  had 
wiirned  La  Barre  that  he  must  get  on  as  best  he  could  with  the 
military  force  already  in  the  colony,  for  he  could  spare  him  no 
more.  The  new  governor  was  soon  appalled  at  what  lie  saw 
and  learned,  and  wrote  back  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
have  an  increase  of  his  force.  In  October,  the  governor  held 
a  council,  and  it  seemed  to  be  the  general  opinion  that  the  Iro- 
quois  were  deceiving  the  French  in  order  to  pounce  upon  their 
western  allies.  Frontenac  had  called  the  confederates  "  Chil- 
dreu;"  La  Barre  called  them  "Brothers,"  after  the  earlier 
Change  of  habit.  It  betokened  very  well  the  altered  relations 
P"'""^'  with  the  savages  which  were  taking  place  perceptibly. 

There  was  no  less  a  change  with  those  who  had  stood  by  the 
government  of  Frontenac.  They  now  found  themselves  cast 
aside,  and  it  was  the  enemies  of  Frontenac  and  of  La  Salle 
who  came  into  power. 

La  Chesnaye,  the  richest  merchant  in  Quebec,  who  just  now 
stood  well  with  all  for  his  generous  bounty  to  those  who  had 
suffered  by  the  fire,  readily  got  the  ear  of  the  new  governor, 
and  poured  into  it  all  the  rumors  which  were  afloat  prejudicial 
to  the  absent  explorer.  La  Salle's  property  at  Catavaqui  was 
after  a  while  seized,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  not  kept  his 
contract  in  maintaining  it.  It  was  not  long  before  La  Barre  was 
thi-owing  doubt  on  the  pretenses  of  La  Salle  to  discovery,  and 
N\as  writing  to  the  king  that  the  man  was  doing  his  best  to 
bring  on  an  Iroquois  war.  The  king  had  no  sanguine  hopes  in 
respect  to  western  discovery,  at  the  best.  He  had  told  La  Barre 
that  these  western  efforts  were  not  as  useful  as  was  claimed,  but 
that  he  might  suffer  La  Salle  to  go  on,  just  to  see  what  would 
come  of  it. 

For  seventy  years  and  more,  and  ever  since  Hudson's  explo- 
rations  at  the  north  had  disturbed  Champlain  and  his  associates, 
the  French  had  kept  an  eye  upon  the  English  in  the  north,  and 
Freuoh  "P«^^  *'i^"'^"  efforts  to  divcrt  the  Indian  trade.  Without 
cir.i,.sr,tthc  discovery  or  occupation  the  French  had  in  1G27  i)ro. 
fessed  their  right  as  far  north  as  the  Arctic  circle  by 


HUDSON'S  BAY. 


301 


the  charter  of  the  company  of  the  Hundred  Associates.  They 
now  professed  that  England  recognized  these  boreal  rights 
when  in  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Layc  in  1G33,  Canada  — 
whatever  that  may  mean  —  had  been  restored  to  the  French. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  down  to  IGGO  France  had  obtained 
any  loiowledge  of  this  northern  region  except  as  the  Indians 
had  described  it.  As  the  result  of  Captain  Gillam's  venture, 
the  English  had  in  1G70  laid  claim  to  the  whole  water-shed  of 
the  bay  in  the  charter  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  This 
and  the  earlier  exploration  of  Hudson  were  much  more  than  a 
fair  offset  for  the  paper  claim  of  the  Hundred  Associates.  ^Ve 
have  seen  that  Talon  sent  Albanel  by  way  of  the  Saguenay 
to  get  a  glimpse  of  James's  Bay,  in  1G72.  Grosseilliers  and  Ra. 
disson,  who  had  been  in  the  English  service  there  a  few  years 
later,  had  found  it  prudent  to  leave  that  service  and  seek  resti- 
tution to  French  favor ;  and  with  the  certificate  that  they  had 
made  their  peace  in  Paris,  they  had  appeared  in  Quebec  in 
1G76,  anxious  to  be  recognized,  but  were  not  successful  in  the 
attempt.  While  they  were  still  in  an  enforced  disgrace,  Joliet 
had  been  sent  in  1G79  from  Tadoussac,  and  accomplished  the 
feat  of  Albanel  once  again.  It  is  claimed  that  the  English 
tried  to  induce  Joliet  to  join  their  interests,  but  he  proved  faith- 
ful to  his  race.  He  probably  on  his  return  prompted  Duches- 
neau,  in  1G81,  to  ask  to  be  allowed  to  undertake  an  expedition  to 
drive  the  English  out.  The  next  yeav,  1682,  the  Company  of 
the  North,  which  had  been  formed  to  be  some  sort  of  compensa- 
tion for  the  trade  which  was  slipping  into  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish at  the  west,  undertook  to  do  what  Duchesneau  had  urged. 
They  put  two  ships  under  the  command  of  Grosseilliers  and 
Kadisson,  who  were  now  restored  to  active  participancy  in  their 
old  field.  The  party  attacked  unexpectedly  the  English  post 
at  Port  Nelson.  The  authorities  on  the  wavering  con- 
flicts between  the  French  and  English  at  Hudson's  Frencu'con. 
Bay  during  the  rest  of  this  century  are  difficult  to 
use  with  satisfaction.  The  two  sides  differ  constantly  in  their 
statements,  and  every  effort  is  made  by  each  to  cast  the  stigma  of 
unprovoked  assault  on  the  other  side.  Neither  were  the  French 
the  only  adversaries  which  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  encoun- 
tered. It  had  become  much  the  habit  for  the  New  Enc'landers 
to  carry  on  an  illicit  trade  there  by  water,  and  the  com]iany  con- 


!•  \  - 


f:    ': 


I 


illf 


■'fm 


302 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


1G5'.>,  De- 
cember. La 
Balle  niul 
Toiity  at 
Starved 
Rock. 


stantly  complained  of  such  "interlopers."  There  is  no  occasion 
now  to  dwell  upon  the  bewildering  story,  other  than  as  it  has 
some  relation  to  the  schemes  of  discovery  at  the  west.  English 
possession  of  these  northern  rivers,  which  led  up  to  the  sources 
of  those  that  beyond  (lie  divide  descended  to  the  region  of  the 
Sioux,  affected  the  French  trade  in  that  direction,  and  con- 
trolled French  discovery. 

We  have  seen  that  La  Salle  had  taken  exception  to  the  at- 
tempts of  Duluth  to  open  this  Sioux  country  by  way  of  the 
Illinois  territory,  and  it  was  La  Salle's  eagerness  to  be  sure 
of  maintaining  his  hold  on  the  Illinois  that  made  him  give  up 
his  proposed  visit  to  Fort  Frontenac,  when  he  started 
to  join  Tonty  among  the  Illinois.  It  was  in  Decem- 
ber when  the  two  friends  laid  out  the  plan  of  a  strong- 
hold on  the  top  of  what  is  now  known  as  Starved 
Rock  and  named  it  Fort  St.  Louis.  The  place  was  by  nature 
unassailable  exceijt  in  the  rear,  while  the  river  front 

starved  .  *•  «      i  . 

Rock,  Fort    arosc  in  a  becthng  fashion  from  the  water,  and  the 

St.  Louis.  .  "^  ,    ^ 

sules  were  equally  precipitous.  The  summit  was  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  above  the  plain.  It  was  a  con- 
spicuous feature  in  the  broad  landscape.  Intrenchments  and 
palisades,  the  remains  of  which  were  seen  by  Charlevoix  forty 
years  later,  soon  encircled  the  open  acre  of  the  top.  There 
was  a  neighboring  community  of  savages  who  made  a  busy 
scene.  About  six  thousand  of  the  Illinois  who  had  fled  be- 
fore ^\e  Iroquois  had  returned  to  their  old  homes,  and  their 
numbers  were  increasing.  Other  tribes  were  coming  to  settle 
near  at  hand.  The  map  which  Franquelin  made  a  year  or  more 
later  shows  how  the  villages  were  scattered  in  the  vicinity,  and 
the  count  of  the  warriors  which  he  gives  foots  up  about  four 
thousand,  or  an  equivalent,  say,  of  twenty  thousand  soids.  It 
was  this  number  which  was  shortly  afterward  gathered  under 
the  eye  of  the  French  commander.  Upon  this  body  of  friendly 
Indians,  and  upon  their  intercourse  with  more  distant  tribes, 
the  French  depended  for  the  traffic  in  peltries  which  was  to 
support  the  colony,  if,  indeed,  it  could  be  maintained  at  all 
against  the  Iroquois. 

Concerning  the  defense  which  could  be  made  against  those 
confederates,  La  Salle  coidd  make  some  estimate,  and  he  was 


RE. 

s  no  occasion 
fin  as  it  has 
3st.  English 
}  the  sources 
egion  of  the 
)n,  and  con- 


>n  to  the  at- 
•  way  of  the 
1  to  be  sure 
him  give  up 
in  he  started 
3  in  Decem- 
of  a  strong- 
as  Starved 
IS  by  nature 
!  river  front 
ter,  and  the 
Hmit  was  a 
t  was  a  con- 
hments  and 
levoix  forty 
top.  There 
ade  a  busy 
lad  fled  be- 
s,  and  their 
Qg  to  settle 
ear  or  more 
iricinity,  and 
about  four 
d  soids.  It 
lered  under 
'  of  friendly 
itant  tribes, 
aich  was  to 
lined  at  all 

jainst  those 
and  he  was 


STARVED  ROCK. 


303 


preparing  for  the  conflict  if  it  should  come  ;  but  the  enemies  he 
had  made  on  the  St.  Lawrence  were  a  force  that  must  yet  dis- 
play itself.  It  was  later  asserted  that  La  Barre  —  whose  su- 
perseding  of  Frontenac  had  not  yet  come  to  La  Salle's  know- 
ledge —  had  told  the  Iroquois  to  respect  only  his  own  passes  if 


STARVED  ROCK. 

[After  a  Photograph  taken  by  Bowman,  of  Ottawa,  Illinois,  and  furnished  by  the  Rev.  C.  M. 

Stuart,  of  Chicago.] 

they  encountered  any  French.  Since  La  Salle's  warrant  in  the 
Illinois  country  was  not  dependent  on  the  governor's  passes,  the 
protection  of  the  government  was  in  effect  withdrawn  ^a  saiie  and 
from  La  Salle,  if  the  story  be  true.  It  is  fair  to  say  ^*  ^"""• 
that  La  Barre  denied  it,  but  not  perhaps  till  some  of  his  own 
traders  had  been  robbed  by  the  Iroquois,  on  the  supposition 
that  they  belonged  to  La  Salle.     The  temptation  to  illicit  trade 


i  fi 


304 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARRE. 


had  proved  too  gvea    for  any  governor  to  resist.     But  an  act 
which  La  Barre  could  not  deny  was  his  sending  the  Chevalier 
de  Baugis  to  seize  upon  La  Sa^/s  post  at  the  Rock.     This 
seems  to  have  been  a  part  of  a  scheme  to  control  all  western 
posts  so  as  to  be  prepared  against  any  onset  of  the  Iroquois  in 
the  Lnghsh  interest.     To  a  similar  end,  at  the  same  time,  d"! 
rantaye  was  sent  with  thirty  men  to  strengthen  the  force  at 
Mackinac      La  Barre  justified  such  a  movement  against  La 
Salle  on  the  ground  that  his  trading  privileges  were  near  expir- 
ing a.  d  that  some  responsible  power  should  control  the  exposed 
posts  in  the  II  inois.     He  looked  upon  La  Salle  as  a  debtLfor 
hirty  thousand  ci^wns,  and  likely  soon  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
his  crodi  ors.    LaBarre,  meanwhile,  was  writing  to  Seignelay  iust 
as  if  he  believed  that  La  Salle's  head  was  turned,  and  that  he 
was  unable  to  control  his  own  men,  -  truth,  doubtless,  in  some 
1C83,  April.    "«gree.    It  was  just  about  the  same  time,  near  the  1st 
hears  Of  La    «^  ^P"l  (1G83),  that  woi'd  had  readied  La  Salle  of 
Soir""   *'^e  change  of  power  at  Quebec.     He  at  once  wrote 
TT    *^^'^  .■^'''"''^  "^  propitiatory  and  somewhat  piteous  let- 
ter.    He  told  him  that  his  enemies  would  try  to  preiudice  the 
governor  s  mind  against  him  ;  that  his  losses  amounted  to  fortv 
thousand  crowns ;  that  his  force  was  reduced  to  twenty  men 
and  that  they  had  only  a  hmidred  pounds  of  powder  amono^ 
them.     He  told  him  that  the  Indians  were  coming  in  unde? 
his  protection,  and  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  send  men  to 
Montreal  for  supplies,  and  hoped  the>  >vould  not  be  looked  upon 
as  bushrangers,  but  be  allowed  to  come  and  go ;  for  he  intended 
to  keep  strictly  to  his  instructions  and  trade  with  no  tribe  that 
June.  Y^^  accustomed  to  go  to  the  old  settlements.     Early 

m  June,  he  again  wrote  to  La  Barre,  complaining  that 
the  men  whom  he  had  sent  down  for  supplies  had  been  detained. 
With  the  Iroquois  skulking  about  him,  munitions  were  neces- 
sary,  and  he  hoped  that  La  Barre  would  officially  direct  him  to 
protect  the  Miamis  against  the  confederates,  and  give  him  a 
chance  to  eradicate  from  these  western  Indians  the  belief  that  he 
was  m  reality  abetting  the  Iroquois  in  their  raids.  This  apijeal 
was  a  difficult  one  for  La  Barre  to  meet.  He  desired  the  west- 
ern Indians  should  be  protected,  but  he  did  not  believe,  or  at 
least  did  not  profess  to  believe,  that  La  Salle  had  any  pur- 
pose to  do  it.  ^ 


■-fc-.i^^,  -rr-r-f- 


GOVERNOR  DONGA N. 


305 


Since  the  spring,  the  Senecas  had  been  restless  and  seemed 
to  be  moving  west.  La  Barre's  efforts  to  check  them  by  nego- 
tiation effected  little,  and  he  renewed  his  petition  to  the  king 
for  a  military  force  to  occupy  'lis  forts  while  his  veterans  took 
the  field.  He  also  appealed  for  farmers  to  till  the  ground  while 
the  experienced  settlers  were  Si)ared  for  a  campaign.  If  the 
English  and  Dutch  were  not  to  capture  all  the  western  trade, 
he  said,  tlie  Senecas  and  Cayugas  must  be  crushed. 
In  August  (1083),  La  Barre  got  some  of  their  chiefs  ^"^"*'" 
to  come  to  Montreal  for  a  conference,  but  he  could  do  little 
with  them.  They  were  determined,  so  they  said,  that  the  Illi- 
nois should  die  ! 

If  this  was  not  encouraging,  the  tidings  which  the  governor 
soon  got  from  the  king  aroused  hope  that  something  active 
could  be  done  in  the  north,  for  he  was  instructed  to  prevent  the 
English  occupancy  of  Hudson's  Bay ;  and  in  pursuance  of  that 
plan  La  Barre  soon  dispatched  Duluth  to  build  a  fort  on  Lake 
Nepigon  and  distribute  presents  to  the  Indians,  so  as  to  check 
the  English  trade  in  that  direction.  To  the  south  it  was  not 
less   encouraging,   for  the   king  informed  him   that 


Thomas  Dongan,  a  colonel  in  the  royal  array,  the  son  oovSr  of 


New  York. 


of  an  Irish  baronet,  and  a  Catholic,  had  been  sent  by 
the  English  king  to  New  York  as  governor,  with  instructions 
to  do  nothing  to  disturb  the  interests  of  the  French  in  Canada. 
This  seemed  to  promise  well ;  but  Dongan  proved  a  good  Briton 
despite  all  the  promises,  and  the  authorities  at  Quebec  soon 
learned  that  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with.  He  had  more 
faith,  too,  in  what  La  Salle  had  done  than  the  French  them- 
selves, and  perfectly  understood  how  French  settlements  along 
the  river,  "  running  aU  along  from  our  lakes  by  the  back  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Carolina  to  the  Bay  of  Mexico,"  might  prove  "very 
inconvenient  to  the  English."  He  had  not  been  long  in  New 
York  before  he  was  asking  permission  to  send  a  ship  to  dis- 
cover the  river  of  "  Lassal." 

Meanwhile  the  Iroquois  threats  against  the  Illinois  had  not 
come  to  an  outbreak.  Straggling  parties  of  Cayugas  here  and 
there  cut  off  French  or  Indian,  but  nothing  more  alarming  had 
happened.     La  Salle  nurtured  his  hope  of  completing 

1-1  r-  ^      .1  ir.  11  •         nn  La  Salle 

Ins  plans  by  a  voyage  to  the  gulr,  and,  leaving  Tonty  to  leaves  Fort 
deal  with  the  Iroquois  if  they  approached  the  Rock, 


ill    I 


'I 


'if 

i  Iri 


LA  SALLE,  FRONTENAC,  AND  LA  BARPE. 

started  for  Quebec.  In  passing  up  the  east  shore  ot  Michigan 
he  met  De  Baugis  on  the  way  to  Fort  St.  Louis  to  relieve  him  of 
command.  La  Salle  now  comprehended,  for  the  first  time,  the 
full  effect  of  the  change  which  the  departure  of  Frontenao  had 
occasumed.  He  further  understood  how  it  had  been  deemed 
necessary  to  depose  him. in  order  that  his  pi  ^sence  among  the 
lUmois  might  not  prove  a  pretense  for  an  Iroquois  attack.  He 
accepted  the  disclosures  with  what    luanimity  he  could,  and  sent 


FORT  ST.  LOUIS  DE  QUEBEC. 
[By  Franqueliu,  1083.    From  Suite's  Canadiens-FrantaU,  vol.  ii.] 

word  to  Tonty  to  acquiesce  cheerfully  in  the  new  rule.  He  prob- 
ably learned  at  Mackinac  that  La  Barre  had  already  planned  +o 
send  his  own  traders  to  the  Illinois  country,  and  it  was  not  lono- 
after  that  the  Sieur  de  Beauvais  and  others,  with  such  permits", 
were  passing  over  the  Chicago  portage. 

1683,  Nov.,         This  outcome  of  all  his  efforts  and  trials  had  not 

ttie"''    ™"^^  ^"  ^*  ^^  inspirit  the  weary  dreamer  and  discov- 

erer,  now  on  his  way  to  encounter  his  creditors.     La 


LA  SALLE  IN  FRANCE. 


307 


Sallo  reached  Quebec  in  November,  and  embarked  for  France. 
On  December  23,  he  landed  at  Rochelle. 

Perhaps  he  gained  new  courage  when  ho  found  how  large  a 
space  in  the  public  mind  Canada  was  beginning  to  fill.  If  the 
king  had  not  been  much  impressed  with  the  importance  of  La 
Salle's  discoveries,  others  had  been.  It  all  had  served,  says 
Professor  Seeley,  "  to  bring  France  into  the  foremost  of  colonial 
powers."  The  interest  had  in  some  part  arisen  from  the  attrac- 
tions which  Hennepin  was  offei-ing  to  the  ordinary  reader,  since 
the  priest's  first  book,  as  we  have  seen,  was  just  now  creating 
a  lively  influence  in  what  he  had  revealed,  and  the  narrative 
was  rapidly  extending  its  circle  of  readers  by  translations  into 
nearly  all  the  western  languages.  A  cataract  five  hundred  feet 
high,  as  his  story  represented  Niagara,  and  of  enormous  volume, 
was  finding  a  place  in  popular  re^jt^rd  among  the  world's  great 
wonders. 


•    .  i: 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


LA  Salle's  texan  colony. 

1684-1687. 

It  lias  been  supposed  that  La  Salle  on  going  to  Franco  took 
with  hnn  the  material  which  ho  liad  accunmlatea  for  a  map  of 
Im  discoveries.      The  data   had   prohably  been   arranged   by 
In-anquelin  m  Quebec,  and  we  have,  it  is  supposed,  the  result  as 
worked  up  by  some  Parisian  cartographer,  in  what  is  known  as 
1084.  Fran-  *'*^  ^^^"^  '"''^P  ^^   Frauqueliu.     This  production  has 
qu.ii„'«        already  been  referred  to  as  defining  what  was  then 
tniderstood  to  be  the  bounds  of  Louisiana.     If  it  was 
not  upon  tiie  rei)resentations  of  this  map,  it  nuist  have  been  on 
sucli  showing  as  La  Salle  could  make  from  his  own  memoranda, 
that  soon  after  his  arrival  he  was  at  work  framing  :i  memorial 
to  the  king,  in  which  he  asked  that  he  miglit  be  allowed  to  con- 
La  Salle        *^"^*  ^^  expedition  by  sea  to  the  mouths  of  the  great 
ril'trto"  "^«i"  ^vl^cJ^  lie  had  discovered.     It  was  not  an  in- 
^^a^^!"'     opportune  moment  for  such  a  petition.     The  relations 
of  France  with  Spain  suggested  a  blow  at  the  Spanish 
dommation  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  if  France  could  deal  one. 
There  was,  moreover,  an  attractive  field  for  conquests  in  the 
Spanish  silver  provinces  of  Now  Mexico,  which  La  Salle  was 
not  slow  to  point  out  as  a  way  for  France  to  take  r(!venge  for 
Spanish  insolence  in  the  gulf.    It  would  at  the  same  time  s^icure 
for  a  dutiful  subject  like  himself  some  recompense  for  his  loyal 
sacrifices.     La  Salle  remin.led  Seignelay  also  that  it  was  not  to 
be  forgotten  that  the  expedition  offered  a  great  opportunity  to 
reach  the  heathen,  who  were  already,  as  La  Salle  represented, 
much  mcensed  against  the  Spaniards  for  their  treatment   of 
them. 

It  was  not  only  in  generalizations  of  glory  and  Chrirtian  en- 
deavor that  La  Salle  urged  his  plans.     He  entered  into  particu- 


PEfiALOSA. 


309 


lars  of  the  way  in  which  ho  proposed  to  proceed.  lie  would 
fortify  the  Colbert  (Missirtsippi)  sixty  leagues  above  its  moutli, 
where  the  river  cotdd  be  readily  defended  by  fircships.  lie 
could  count,  ho  said,  on  fifteen  thousand  fighting  men  among 
the  river  Indians.  He  asked  for  two  luuulred  men  to  accom- 
pany him  from  France,  and  expected  to  pick  up  fifty  buccaneers 
at  San  Domingo.  lie  could  bring  down  four  thousand  warriors 
from  the  Illinois  countiy.  lie  could  advance  on  the  Spanish 
province  of  New  Biscay  by  the  Seignelay  (Ked)  Kiver.  All 
this  he  could  do,  if  only  he  was  allowed  a  vessel  of  thirty  guns, 
with  some  extm  cannon  for  land  waq. 

This  plan  cUi.  ously  accorded  with  that  of  another  adventurer 
who  had  been  hanging  for  so?ue  time  about  the  French  court. 
La  Salle's  needy  abettor  was  Penalosa,  a  former  Potiaiosa'» 
Spanish  governor  of  New  Mexico,  who  had  his  own  *«'"""«■• 
reanttns  for  wishing  to  get  into  the  good  gia'^os  of  the  French 
government.  To  strengthen  his  pretensions,  ho  published  an 
account  of  an  expedition  which  he  professed  to  have  made  from 
Santa  Fd  to  the  Mississippi.  The  Rio  Bravo,  which  ho  named 
us  the  site  of  the  colony  which  ho  proposed  in  the  French  in- 
terest, he  and  La  Salle  —  for  they  were  not  long  in  getting  into 
communication  —  evidently  thought  to  bo  the  same  stream 
which  La  Salic  had  descended.  It  was  in  January,  1G82,  that 
this  Spanish  renegade  had  first  proposed  his  plan,  which  in- 
volved an  attack  on  Panucc,  and  then  a  march  inland.  There 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  La  Salle  did  not  at  first  heartily 
accede  to  any  joint  arrangement,  and  Parkman  and  others  con- 
tend that  tiie  peace  with  Sj^ain  which  intervened  prevented  the 
intended  cooperation.  The  subject  is  certainly  surrounded  with 
doubt,  but  Shea  thinks  we  clear  off  all  mists  if  we  allow  the 
joint  scheme  to  have  been  r  ^cepted  by  La  Salle  and  forwarded 
by  the  government.  There  is  a  good  deal  which  is  best  under- 
stood in  such  a  solution.  Penalosa  was  now  a  man  of  sixty, 
rather  old  for  untried  adventures,  and  perhaps  not  averse  to 
letting  a  younger  man  like  La  Salle  break  the  way.  It  was 
three  and  twenty  years  since  this  Spanish  adventurer  had  been 
sent  out  to  Nev/  Mexico.  During  his  term  in  office  he  had 
had  differences  with  the  Inquisition,  and  had  fallen  into  their 
net,  from  which  he  did  not  extricate  himself  for  p.  long  time. 
When  ho  did,  he  went  to  Spain  to  seek  redress,  but  getting 


I 


i'M 


i  ! 


! 


I'  I 


ml! 


310 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 


none,  he  fled  to  France,  in  no  spirit  to  suffer  longer,  and  resolved 
to  be  revenged.  In  pushing  his  project  at  this  time,  he  did 
not  overlook  the  advantages  which  La  Salle's  establishments  on 
the  Illinois  might  be  in  the  near  future,  and  he  told  Seignolay 
that  such  benefit  ought  to  be  counted  upon.  All  this  helped 
La  Salle,  wlio  at  the  same  tini.>  was  very  likely  instigating  the 
public  reports  that  in  establishing  those  posts  on  the  upper 
Mississippi  he  had  not  had  the  support  which  he  deserved  from 
the  authorities  in  Canada. 

These  movements  had  all  the  effect  on  the  king  which  La 
Salle  could  hope  for,  and  letters  were  written  to  La  Barre 
ordering  the  restitution  of  Fort  Frontenac  and  the  Rock  to  La 
1G84,  Nov.  Salle.  His  lieutenant,  La  Forest,  was  dispatched  in 
sent  tT'  April,  1684,  with  such  directions,  being  at  the  same 
La'saiie'"  time  lustructcd  to  receive  the  fort  and  hold  it  for  liis 
interests.  master.  La  Forest  apparently  had  some  hope  that  he 
might  be  later  directed  to  lead  a  force  down  the  Mississippi  to 
cooperate  with  La  Salle,  but  no  such  orders  were  sent. 

When  the  plans  had  ripened,  La  Salle  received  a  new  com- 
La  Salle        missiou,  by  which  he  was  authorized  to  found  colonies 
enioror"     "^  Louisiaua,  and  to  govern  the  vast  territory  from 
Louisiana.      L^j^g  Michigan  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.     The  king  did 
his  part  in  ordering  to  the  servic    more  than  La  Salle  had  dared 
to  ask  for,  —one  ship,  the  "  Joly,"  of  thirty-six  guns,  and  another 
of  six  guns,  beside  two  smaller  craft.     By  the  end  of  May,  La 
Salle  was  in  llochelle,  making  ready  for  the  embarkation,  and 
his  agents  were  going  about  the  streets  picking  up  recruits.    He 
secured  a  force  of  marines,  a  hundred  soldiers,  and  about  two 
hundred  and  eighty  other  persons,  including  women  and  chil- 
dren;  for  it  was  to  be  a  colony  based  on  family  life,  whatever 
ulterior  purpose   it   was   to   serve   as   a   military   rendezvous. 
Among  the  leaders  of  the  party  we  recognize  an  old  friend  in 
Membre,  and  there  were  other  priests,  not  without  later  fame, 
His  com-       i"  Douay,  and  Leclercq,  the  EtahUssement  de  la  Foy 
Doimy,         of  thc  latter  being  a  book  we  must  often  turn  to  in 
cavifiie?;       oiir  study  of  tlicsc  timcs.      Another   Sulpitian   was 
joutei.         Father  Cavelier;  a  brother  of  La  Salle,  and  a  fellow 
Eouennaise,  Joutei,  wore  also  in  the  company.    "We  know  more 
of  the  story  of  the  suosequeut  mishaps  from  the  journal  which 
Joutei  kept  of  them. 


and  resolved 
time,  he  did 
lisliments  on 
Id  Seignelay 
this  helloed 
itigating-  the 
II  the  upper 
served  from 

ig  which  La 

0  La  Barre 
Rock  to  La 
ispatched  in 
at  the  same 
Id  it  for  liis 
liope  that  he 
ississippi  to 
nt. 

a  new  com- 
Lmd  colonies 
•ritory  from 
'he  king  ditl 
!e  had  dared 
and  another 
of  May,  La 
•kation,  and 
icraits.    He 

1  about  two 
n  and  chil- 
e,  whatever 
rendezvous, 
d  friend  in 
later  fame, 

;  de  la  Foy 
turn  to  in 
pitian  was 
id  a  fellow 
know  more 
irnal  which 


BEAUJEU  AND  LA   SALLE. 


311 


Beaujeu,  a  captain  in  the  royal  navy,  reported  to  take  com- 
mand  of    the   principal  ship,   and   his   position  was  Bea.,jeuand 
necessarily  such  as  brought  him  into  close  companion-  ^^  ^''""•'"' 
ship  with  La  Salle.     If  they  had  been  suited  to  one  another, 
Beaujeu  would  not  have  had  for  so  many  years  a  bad  reputa- 
tion with  writers  as  an  obstructor  of  La  Salle's  purposes.     The 
documents  which  Margry  has  of  late  published  quite  reverse  the 
world's  judgment  of  this  naval  ofQcer,  and  lead  us  to  believe 
that  he  did  all  that  a  sensible  person  should  do  to  bring  order 
out  of  the  confusion  with  which  such  a  visionary  as  La  Salle 
was  sure  to  swamp  any  business  he  undertook.     Beaujeu,  by 
his  education  as   an   officer,  was  very  likely  exacting  in   the 
requirements  which  he  considered  essential  to  the  proper  order- 
ing of  such  an  undertaking,  and  he  could  hardly  avoid  reaching 
the  conclusion  that  La  Salle's  unbusiness-like  ways  were  the 
signs  of  a  wavering  intellect,  —  as  he  did.     It  was  natural  for 
a  vain,  self-contained  man  like  La  Salle,  who  had  no  conception 
of  how  a  well-ordered  experiment  should  be  tried,  to  grow  jeal- 
ous of  any  one  who  showed  superiority  in  method.     So  the 
relations  of  the  naval  commander  and  the  leader  of  the  expe- 
dition were  strained  from  the  first,  and  we  cannot  but  wish  that 
Beaujeu  had  been  left  to  his  own  head  for  this  venture,  and 
that  La  Salle  had  been  sent  back  to  Canada  with  La  Forest. 
As  it  was,  Beaujeu's  position  was  most  trying,  and  nothing  but 
resources  of  tact  on  his  part  carried  the  project  on  at  all.     It 
was  unfortunate  that  the  wife  of  Beaujeu  was  a  confidant  of 
the  Jesuits,  for  this  was  enougli  to  disquiet  La  Salle's  mind 
as  to  every  motion  of  the  naval  conunander.     So  there  were 
imagined  machinations  of  the  Jesuits  haunting  La  Salle,  and 
causing  distraction  when  he  sliould  have  been  forming  plans. 
Beaujeu  constantly  complains  that  he  never  knew  where  to  find 
Ins  associate.     This  seaman  was   a  Norman  himself,  and   he 
thought  he  knew  his  countrymen's  failings.    "  Never  a  Norman 
was  so  nmch  Norman  as  La  Salle,"  hti  said,  "  and  Normans  are 
always  stumbling-blocks."      It  is  curious  to  see  how  Margry, 
another  Norman,  in  printing  the  damaging  testimony  against 
La  Salle,  is  anxious  to  break  its  force  as  much  as  he  can. 

La  Salle  kept  even  from  Beaujeu  the  secret  of  his  destination, 
mitil  it  became  necessary  to  engage  pilots,  the  result  of  which 
was  that  when  Beaujeu  discovered  he  was  going  to  the  "ulf,  he 


■s 

Mil 


I'  *i" 

f 

■i*t3  , 


li 


312 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 


found  he  liad  not  made  all  the  provisions  for  the  voyage  which 
were  necessary. 

Thus  the  period  of  preparation  was  filled  with  vexation  and 
dispute.  At  last,  on  July  18,  just  as  everything  was  nearly 
ready,  La  Salle  wrote  a  final  letter  to  his  mother  in  Kouen,  tell- 
ing her  that,  with  four  vessels  and  nearly  four  hundred  men,  he 
1084  Jul--  ^^^  about  to  sail.  The  fleet  finally  put  to  sea  on 
AuRust  the  July  24  ;  but  the  "  Joly  "  soon  breaking  her  bowsprit, 
they  had  to  put  back  for  repairs,  and  did  not  finally 
get  off  till  August  1.  The  counsels  of  the  two  leaders  were 
still  at  variance.  Beaujeu  thought  it  necessary  to  put  in  to 
Madeira  for  water ;  but  La  Salle  opposed  it,  on  the  ground  that 
the  Spaniards  might  divine  their  aim.  They  were  two  months 
in  reaching  San  Domingo,  and  many  fell  sick  on  board,  includ- 
ing La  Salle  himself.  They  were  further  unfortunate  in  hav- 
ing Spanish  cruisers  capture  the  smaller  vessel  of  their  fleet ; 
and  when  La  Salle  was  informed  of  it  he  was  still  ill  at  San 
Domingo.  AVith  the  principal  leader  off  duty,  the  company  on 
the  fleet  fared  badly  in  that  port.  The  men  gave  themselves 
over  to  unrestrained  dissipation,  and  the  more  reckless  among 
them  succumbed  to  the  enticements  of  the  buccaneers  and 
deserted.  Beaujeu  observed  it  all,  but  could  do  little  beyond 
controlling  his  crew.  He  gave  pretty  bad  accounts  of  it  in  his 
letters  which  he  sent  home,  saying  among  other  things  that 
the  Spaniards  had  six  ships  scouring  these  waters,  each  one  of 
which  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  "'  Joly." 

On  November  25,  the  expedition  left  San  Domingo,  La  Salle 
November  ^"^1  liis  immediate  adherents  shifting  their  quarters 
in  Do?''  fi'om  the  "Joly"  to  the  "  Aimable,"  the  larger  of 
"""^°"  the  remaining  vessels,  leaving  Beaujeu  in  undisputed 
charge  of  his  own  ship.  The  ships  followed  along  the  south 
December,  ^idc  of  Cuba,  and  were  soon  separated  in  a  fog.  On 
Make  uud.  December  28,  a  sailor  at  the  masthead  of  the  "  Aima- 
ble "  saw  land.  They  took  it  to  be  Appalachee  Bay,  three  hun- 
dred miles  east  of  the  Mississippi,  while  in  reality  the  vessels 
were  a  hundred  miles  west  of  that  river,  and  in  the  neisrh- 
borhood  of  Atchafalaya  Bay.  It  was  later  believed,  when  it 
became  known  that  La  Salle  had  his  thoughts  upon  the  New 
Biscay  mines,  as  Coxe,  for  instance,  held  in  his  Carolana,  that 
La  Salle  had  purposely  overshot  the  mouth  of  the  Mississipj)!. 


ON  THE   COAST. 


313 


jyage  which 

Dxation  and 
was  nearly 
Kouen,  tell- 
red  men,  he 
i  to  sea  on 
2r  bowsprit, 

not  finally 
jaders  were 
)  put  in  to 
ground  that 
;wo  months 
ard,  includ- 
late  in  hav- 
their  fleet; 

ill  at  San 
company  on 

themselves 
dess  amonjj 
aneers  and 
ttle  beyond 
of  it  in  his 
things  that 
jach  one  of 

;o,  La  Salle 
lir  quarters 
!  larger  of 
undisputed 
;  the  south 
a  fog.  On 
lie  "  Aima- 
,  three  hun- 
the  vessels 
the  neigh- 
id,  when  it 
n  the  New 
olana,  that 
Mississipi)i. 


It  is  difficult  to  believe  this ;  for  though  he  had  taken  the  lati- 
tude of  the  mouths  of  the  Colbert,  it  was  only  the  merest  guess 
which  he  could  have  made  regarding  their  longitude.  ,.0-  , 
llere,  at  the  begmnmg  of  the  new  year  (1685),  he  g"^-,,^""'^ 
lay  at  anchor,  hoping  for  the  "  Joly  "  to  appear.  He  ^""• 
was  probably  off  the  mouth  of  the  Sabine  Kiver,  with  a  marshy 
stretch  of  shore  in  sight  three  leagues  away.  It  is  not  easy  to 
settle  beyond  doubt  the  landmarks  of  this  cruise  of  La  Salle 
along  the  Texas  coast,  and  investigators  are  not  agreed  in  their 
identifications.  It  was  on  January  6  that  they  discovered  an 
opening,  which  was  very  likely  Galveston  Bay.  La  Salle  did 
not  like  to  enter  it  for  fear  Beaujeu  would  not  discover  him, 
though  he  thought  it  was  one  of  the  Mississippi  mouths.  He 
lingered  off  the  shore  for  several  days,  but  the  "Joly  "  was  not 
seen.  At  last,  supposing  Beaujeu  must  have  passed  beyond 
him,  he  steered  in  pursuit.  After  a  while  some  Indians  came 
off,  but  he  could  not  understand  them.  He  saw  breakers  and, 
beyond,  what  appeared  to  be  a  vast  plain  with  buffalo  and  deer 
roving  upon  it.  He  made  a  landing,  and  found  the  country 
barren,  and  lined  with  flats  of  mud.  He  could  find  no  fresh 
water.  The  coast  stretched  south,  and  perhaps  the  best  suppo- 
sition is  that  he  was  near  Matagorda  Island.  A  fog  came  on 
and  he  anchored.  When  it  lifted,  the  "  Joly  "  was  in  si"-ht. 
The  two  leaders  met,  and  charged  each  other  with  the  blame  of 
the  protracted  separation.  Beaujeu  evidently  thought  that  La 
Salle  had  no  conception  where  he  was.  La  Salle  professed  at 
any  rate  to  believe  he  had  struck  another  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. He  was  persuaded  that  the  open  water  which  he  had 
seen  at  the  mouths  in  1682  was  what  he  now  found  to  be  la- 
goons, separated  from  the  sea  by  long  stretches  of  narrow, 
sandy  islands,  which  extended  up  and  down  the  coast.  There 
were  delays  on  making  ready  for  landing,  and  Beaujeu  and  La 
Salle  had  continued  disagreements.  It  seems  at  this  time  to 
have  leaked  out  that  La  Salle  had  some  purpose  to  attack  the 
Spaniards,  and  that  Penalosa  was  expected  to  join  him,  after  he 
had  established  his  foothold  on  the  coast.  Cavelier  says  that 
they  did  not  despair  of  this  relief  till  near  the  end  of  the  fol- 
lowing year.  It  is  stated  that  one  of  the  i)riests  in  the  company 
was  so  disturbed  at  the  idea  of  attacking  his  countrymen  —  for 
tlie  priest  was  a  Spaniard  —  that  he  withdrew  from  the  expedi- 
tion and  determined  to  return  with  Beaujeu. 


m 


■•T"*" 


314 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLON V. 


I 


i  !l 


It  was  now  February,  and  Joutel  was  sent  along  the  shore  to 
1C85,  Febru-  explore,  since  La  Salle  determiiiGd  on  disembarking, 
"y-  The  entrance  to  the  bay,  close  at  hand,  was  difficult  on 

account  of  sandbars,  but  they  marked  out  the  channel  by  sound- 

y  ing,    and    on    the 

^  /  20th    the    "Aim- 

^     /  j     able"    raised    an- 

chor  and  started  to 

run  in.     La  Salle 

himself  was   on 


The 
ble' 
wrecked. 


Aima- 


shore  watching  the 
Indians    of    the 
neighborhood,  who 
had  proved  unruly. 
He   heard  a  gun, 
and    looking    sea- 
ward saw 
that  the 
"  Aima- 
ble"   had  missed 
the  channel    and 
was  careening   on 
the   sands.      The 
vessel   proved  a 
total  loss,  and  but 
a    part  of    her 
e«  cargo  was    saved. 

La  Salle,  with  his 
disposition  to 
charge  miscar- 
riage upon  some 
one,  insisted  that 
the  vessel  had  been 
purposely  stranded,  in  order  to  embarrass  him.  Joutel  cer- 
tainly shared  this  opinion  with  him. 

The  "Joly"  and  a  small  messenger  vessel  were  now  all  the 
ships  they  had,  and  it  was  necessary  to  make  some  lodgment 
before  Beaujeu's  time  for  leaving  came.  So  the  company  was 
A  camp  be-  landed,  and  they  began  to  intrench  a  camp  as  best 
they  could,  for  some  essential  tools  had  been  lost  in 


BEAUJEU  DEPARTS. 


315 


the  wreck.  Some  defense  was  necessary,  for  the  natives  grew 
more  and  more  troublesome.  The  savages  stole  what  they  could, 
and  even  killed  some  of  the  French.  Disease  was  doing  sad 
work,  and  the  colony  was  soon  burying  five  or  six  a  day.  The 
prowling  foe  fired  the  .rairie,  and  La  Salle  feared  for  a  while 
that  the  conflagrati'-^  might  approach  his  powder.  They  had 
nothing  but  a  bu  .  ude  of  tree  stumps,  which  they  had  picked 
up  on  the  shore,  to  keep  the  devastation  off. 

La  Sails  wished 
Beaujeu  to  take  the 
"  Jcly"  and  explore 
the  coast  farther,  and 
settle  some  of  their 
f,'eographical  p  r  o  b  - 
lems,  but  that  officer 
said  he  was  not  pro- 
visioned for  any  long 
search,  but  would  go 
to  Martinique  for 
sujiplies,  if  La  Salle 
thought  best.  For 
some  reason  nothins: 
was  done. 

Later  in  February, 
Beaujeu  was  prepar- 
ing to  leave.  Stowed 
in  the  hold  of  the 
"  Joly  "  were  the  can- 
non and  balls,  which 
La  Salle  needed ;  but  minV.t's  sketch  of  matagorda  bay. 

in  flio  ^rvll^T,™  „^„  [Key:  1,  Cabanne  dea  Sauvages.  2,  Campe  de  M.  De  la 
in  me  romng  sea,  Salle.  3,  where  we  left  Mona.  De  la  Salle.  The  origiual  is  in 
Beaujeu     declined     to     "'^  Archivea  at  Paris.] 

risk  removing  so  much  ballast,  but  promised  to  do  so  when  he 
could  find  a  quiet  harbor.  On  March  12,  he  sailed,  March. 
taking  with  him  such  as  had  lost  heart.  Among  these  Beaujeu  aaiia. 
was  Minet,  the  engineer,  who  on  the  voyage  made  a  map,  which 
has  come  down  to  us.  He  placed  the  outlet  of  the  Mississippi 
apparently  at  Matagorda  Bay,  with  the  mouths  as  La  Salle  had 
mapped  them  in  1682,  but  with  also  a  sketch  of  them  according 
to  Millet's  own  observations. 


316 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 


Beaujeu  intended  to  stop  at  Mobile  Bay  and  get  out  the 
car  non  for  La  Salle ;  but  he  missed  the  opening  and  went  on 
to  France. 


Note.  The  Bketcli  in  the  small  square  shows  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  ''  comme  nous  les 
avons  trouvez."    The  map  shows  it  as  "  Le  Salle  le  marque  dans  sa  carte." 

It  was  a  discouraging  prospect  before  La  Salle.  He  had 
written,  only  a  few  days  before,  to  Colbert  that  he  had  reached 
the  western  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  should  soon  begin  the 
ascent.     The  main  channel,  !ic  supposed,  was  twenty  or  thirty 


'■^^^^^ifaOfe, 


FORT  ST.   LOUIS. 


317 


comme  nous  les 


leagues  to  the  east.  He  did  not,  however,  hold  to  this  opinion 
long,  for  he  grew  distrustful  of  his  position,  and  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  must  seek  elsewhere  for  that  stream.  But  first  it 
was  necessary  to  get  into  a  healthier  and  more  defensible  spot ; 
and  so,  fixing  upon  a  site  for  a  fort  on  a  river  a  little  distance 
up  from  the  head  of  the  bay,  he  constructed,  largely  out  of  the 
wreck  of  the  "  Aimable,"  his  Fort  St.  Louis.  General  Fortst. 
J.  S.  Clark,  a  recent  investigator  of  the  topograi)liical  ^'""^" 
features  of  the  region,  is  confident  that  the  camp  first  occupied 
was  on  Mission  Bay,  near  the  Espiritu  Santo  Bay,  and  that  the 
Fort  St.  Louis  was  on  the  Garcitas  River  five  miles  above  its 
junction  with  Lavaca  Bay,  while  the  adjacent  river  of  that  name 
has  usually  been  considered  the  site  of  the  fort.  General  Clark 
represents  that  the  ground  of  his  supposed  site  still  bore,  at  a 
recent  day,  remains  of  the  fort,  and  was  marked  by  other  relics. 
To  most  inquiriers  the  evidence  has  been  sufficient  that  the 
vicinity  of  Matagorda  Bay  —  and  Espiritu  Santo  is  not  far  off 
—  was  the  scene  of  these  fearful  experiences,  though  Kings- 
ford,  the  latest  historian  of  Canada,  inclines  to  place  them  in 
Galveston  Bay. 

There  were  now  only  a  hundred  and  eighty  souls  left  on 
land  of  all  that  had  started  from  Rochelle.  The  small  crew 
which  navigated  the  little  "  Belle,"  the  sole  vessel  now  remain- 
ing, was  additional.     It  was  the  middle  of  July  when 

T         o    11  11  !•  1     1  1  1     1C85,  July. 

La  balle  was  able  to  occupy  this  new  stronghold  and 
to  lay  out  his  garden  beds.  The  construction  of  the  fort  had 
severely  tasked  his  weakened  comrades.  They  had  to  cut  trees 
for  the  work  three  miles  away.  They  mounted  some  cannon 
upon  the  palisades;  but  as  their  balls  had  been  lost  in  the 
"  Aimable,"  they  loaded  the  pieces  with  bags  of  bullets.  They 
had  occasionally  to  make  a  demonstration  against  the  hovering 
Indians,  in  order  to  remind  them  of  the  force  which  was  in  re- 
serve for  any  hostile  act.  Since  Margry  has  prin^-.-Ht  Joutel's 
journal  in  full,  we  can  trace  their  daily  doings  with  more 
minuteness  than  the  earlier  published  abridgments  of  it  ren- 
dered possible.  This  somewhat  abridged  and  altered  text, 
edited  by  De  Michel,  was  printed  in  1713  as  Journal  histo- 
riqtte,  accompanied  by  a  map.  The  story  abridged  or  at  full 
length  is  one  of  anxiety,  dread,  and  misery.  Thirty  died  in 
a  short  time,  their  head  carpenter  among  them.     By  the  close 


818 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 


of  October,  La  Sallo  was  ready  to  set  out  on  an  expedition  of 
1685,  Oct.      discovery.      He  left  Joutel  in  command  of  tlic  fort 


with  thirty-four  companions.    lie  ordered  the  "  IJelle '' 


explora- 
tions. 


to  follow  the   shore,  so  that  he  could  communicate 


Note.  This  map  by  Joutel  is  reduced  from  the  upper  portion  of  the  map  in  a  JIS.  of  the  iiar- 
which  the  book  of  1713  was  printed,  and  its  map  engraved.  Mr.  A.  P.  C.  Griffin,  of  tliixt  library 
verbal  changes,  apparently  made  in  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  the  censor  expressed  in 
Archives  and  printed  by  ilargry)  used  for  the  press. 

with  her  when  necessary ;  but  he  was  not  always  within  sup- 
porting  distance  of  the  craft,  for  some  of  her  crew,  at  one 


JOUTEVS  MAP. 


819 


point,  landed  and  wandered  off  to  meet  their  deaths  at  the 
hands  of  hxrking  savages.  It  was  rather  an  aimless  march, 
so  it  seemed.     His  men  wandered,  and  one  of  them,   ..^^  , 

■TV    1  1  1        />  iuo(),  jan- 

Uiihaut,  appeared  at  the  fort  m  January,  1G8G,  in  a  ""y- 


S.  of  the  iiar- 
f  tlmt  library, 
:  expressed  iu 


rative  which  is  in  tlie  Boston  Public  Library,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  "  copy"  from 
says  ;  "  It  bears  the  autograph  approval  of  the  royal  censor  ;  and  the  printed  book  shows  some 
a  note  appended  to  the  permission  to  publish."    It  is  very  likely  a  copy  of  the  MS.  (in  the  French 

pitiable  guise.  He  had  lost  the  trail,  and  came  back  to  bring 
Joutel  tidings  of  their  miserable  experiences,  and  of  the  loss  of 


320 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLON i'. 


the  seamen  from  the  "  Belle."  Two  months  later,  near  the  end 
March.  Lft    ^^  Marcli,  La  Salle  himself  returned.     Joutel  espied 

l)roachinj?  with  seven  or  eij^ht  others.  La  Salle's  story  was  that 
they  hud  found  a  rivcu-,  which  they  had  supposed  the  Mississippi ; 
and  in  a  palisade  which  they  had  built  on  its  banks,  they  had 
left  some  men,  —  none  of  them  were  ever  heard  of.  He  had 
detached  a  small  party  on  his  way  back  to  carry  a  message  to 
Tiie"BeUe"  ^he  "  Belle,"  which  had  been  ordered  to  wait  in  a  little 
'"*'•  bay.     She  was  not  to  be  found  there,  as  the  messen- 

gers reported  when  they  reached  the  fort  the  day  following  La 
Salle's  return. 

This  was  the  severest  stroke  which  fate  had  yet  leveled  at 
the  leader's  plans.  The  little  craft  had  or  board  his  ammuni- 
tion and  his  papers,  and  he  was  depending  on  her  to  transport 
his  colony  to  the  Mississippi,  if  ever  he  could  find  it.  Under 
the  blow  La  Salle  fell  ill ;  but  when  he  recovered  a  little,  — 
he  never  needed  anything  more  than  time  to  restore  his  courage, 
—  he  began  to  cast  about  for  some  plan  of  rescue.  Nothing 
was  so  promising  as  to  get  thi  -igh,  if  possible,  to  Canada,  and 
send  word  thence  to  France  for  naval  help. 

A  new  party  to  make  the  trial  of  reaching  the  Illinois  conn- 
try  was  now  made  up,  including,  beside  La  Salle,  the  two  priests, 
^^^^  Cavelier  and  Douay,  and  a  score  of  others.  They 
started  across  the  prairie  on  April  22,  laden  down 
with  provisions  and  camp  fittings.  Joutel  was  again 
left  in  charge  of  the  fort,  and  a  few  days  later  (May  1) 
he  was  cheered  by  the  arrival  of  six  men  who  had  been  saved 
from  the  wreck  of  the  "  Belle."  It  was  not  long  before  La 
Salle  and  eight  of  his  men  once  more  came  back  to  tell  a  fear- 
ful story  of  suffering  and  disaster.  Death  and  desertion  had 
made  sad  havoc,  and  less  than  half  of  the  company  had  returned 
with  their  leader.  The  reported  having  found  illimitable 
prairies,  with  herds  of  roaming  buffaloes.  They  had  got  five 
hox-ses  of  some  Indians,  which  told  of  :  Aade  or  plunder  either 
among  the  Spaniards  or  the  Comanches,  nearer  neighbors  of 
the  Spanish  posts.  They  had  met  delays  at  broad  rivers,  and, 
finding  their  powder  gone.  La  Salle  had  led  them  back.  The 
colony  was  now  reduced  to  forty-five  souls.  All  hopes  of  suc- 
cor by  sea  were  now  gone.    They  had  w\atched  in  vain  for  signs 


April 
futile  at- 
tempt to 
reacli  Can- 
ada. 


DEATH  OF  LA    SALLE. 


32J 


of  Penalosa,  and  notlnnf^  was  to  be  done  but  to  make  another 
trial  to  reach  the  Mississippi,  and  ascend  to  Canada. 

Again  a  forlorn-hope  was  made  up.  Twenty  men  were  to 
stay  behind.  Those  who  wei'o  to  go  included,  beside  ,^^7^  j^„„. 
La  Salle,  his  brother  Cavelier,  Moranget  his  nephew,  "[f^inpt^Ju 
.loutel,  Douay  the  friar,  Duhaut  and  liis  servant  b»  ""''"'• 
L'Archevccpie,  Liotot  the  surgeon,  Ileins,  a  German  bucca- 
neer picked  up  at  San  Domingo,  a  boy  of  the  Cavelier  family, 
beside  two  Indians,  one  a  Shawnee,  and  others,  —  seventeen  in 
ail.  They  were  a  sorry  set  in  appearance,  clothed  in  draggled 
finery  and  in  such  garments  as  they  could  patch  up  out  of  the 
sails  of  the  "  Belle,"  which  had  been  saved.  It  was  early  in 
January,  1687.  We  follow  their  march  in  the  journal  which 
Joutel  has  left,  —  much  the  best  of  all  the  accounts,  —  and  it  is 
supported  by  the  story  as  Douay  tells  it,  so  far  as  it  goes.  The 
narrative  of  Cavelier  is  confused,  but  he  says  that  La  Salle's 
purpose  was  to  reach  the  Mississippi  and  dispatch  him  (Cave- 
lier) up  to  Canada,  while  the  leader  himself  returned  to  his 
colony.  Their  course  lay  northerly,  in  the  main.  The  horses 
which  they  had  secured  on  the  previous  expedition  now  relieved 
them  of  much  of  the  burden,  and  they  packed  upon  them  a 
bull-hide  boat,  to  use  in  crossing  the  streams.  It  was  the 
hunting  season,  and  they  found  wandering  bands  of  Indians 
everywhere.  It  rained  often,  and  this  forced  them  to  live 
much  in  camp,  and  such  inactivity  conduced  to  discontent 
and  plotting. 

It  was  the  middle  of  March  when  La  Salle  found  himself 
within  a  few  miles  of  a  spot,  on  the  southern  branch  1^,37 
of  Ti'inity  Kiver,  where  he  had  concealed  some  corn  ^^"^'^■ 
on  his  previous  expedition.  lie  sent  a  party  to  recover  it, 
while  he  with  Joutel  and  others  remained  in  camp.  Those  who 
were  sent  found  the  corn  spoiled,  but  they  soon  killed  a  buffalo, 
and  sent  back  for  the  horses  to  take  the  meat  in.  The  nephew 
of  La  Salle  was  in  the  party,  and  in  making  a  division  of  the 
carcass  high  words  had  arisen  between  him  and  Duhaut. 
Those  who  sustained  the  latter  now  plotted  to  kill  Moranget,  as 
well  as  the  Slijvwnee  and  La  Salle's  servant,  who  were  sup- 
porters of  the  nephew.  That  night  the  plot  was  extended,  and 
the  death  of  La  Salle  himself  was  decided  upon.  The  occasion 
soon  offered.     The  party  not  returning.  La  Salle  took  Douay 


n.M 


823 


LA   SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 


'    . 


with  him  and  went  to  discover  the  canst-.  Approachinj?  the  con- 
spirators'camp,  ho  fired  his  fjiin  to  attract  attention,  which  gave 
them  time  to  arrange  an  ambuscade.  L'Archovefpio,  the  ser- 
vant of  Duhant,  was  phaeed  as  a  decoy  to  guide  the  approaching 
LaSMio        victim,  wlio  no  sooner  got  within  ch)so  range  than  two 

mur,U.ro,l.        glj^^^     f,.^,,^    ^j.^    ^.^jj    ^^..^j^^^    j.^j^^    j^.^^^    ^^^^^^        Duhaut 

called  out  to  Donay  not  to  fly.  The  nuirderers  stripped  th.o 
body  of  La  Salle,  and  left  it  a  prey  to  the  wolves.  The  shots 
were  fired  by  Duhaut  and  Liotot.  The  latter  had  harbored  a 
revengeful  spirit  e^  jr  since  a  kinsman  among  the  colonists  had 
died,  as  he  thought,  under  the  responsilde  act  of  La  Salle. 

Duhaut  was  now  master  of  the  camp,  and  no  one  of  those  not 
implicated  in  the  assassination  knew  what  to  expect.  The  party 
moved  about  under  his  direction  in  a  listless  way,  buying  food 
of  the  Indians  and  feasting  in  their  lodges.  In  their  wander- 
ings they  met  a  Frenchman  who  had  deserted  from  one  of  La 
Salle's  earlier  parties.  They  learned  from  him  that  there  were 
two  other  such  deserters  in  the  neighborhood.  These  they 
found  living  as  the  savages  did. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  assassins  were  quarreling  with 
ThensHftg-  each  other,  Ileins,  the  German,  heading  a  faction 
Bins  divide,  against  Duhaut.  When  it  came  to  violence,  Duhaut 
was  struck  down  by  the  German,  and  one  of  the  barbarized 
Frenchmen  killed  Liotot.  This  broke  up  the  party.  Heins 
and  the  six  guilty  ones  divided  the  spoils  with  the  others,  and 
gave  themselves  up  to  a  career  in  the  woods. 

The  party  which  adhered  to  Joutel  were  given  six  horses, 
and  thus  equipped,  they  started  to  find  i)^^,  Mississippi 
under  the  conduct  of  three  Indian  guidct,  It  was  in 
June  when  they  got  started,  with  feelings  of  relief. 
They  went  towards  the  northeast,  found  friendly  reception 
among  such  tribes  as  they  encountered,  and  reached  the  Arkan- 
sas River  not  far  from  its  outlet.  They  saw  on  the  opposite 
bank  a  house  of  European  construction,  with  a  tall  c^oss  stand- 
ing beside  it.  Its  occupants  discovered  the  wanderers  and  fer- 
ried them  over.  It  seemed  that  Tonty,  reinstated  at  the  Fort 
St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois,  had  heard  of  Beaujeu's  arrival  in 
Tonty's  France,  and  of  the  tidings  which  he  had  taken  of 
La  Salle's  landing  and  misfortunes.  This  was  in 
the  autumn  of  1685,  and  in  February,  1G8G,  he  had 


1C8",  June. 

Joutel'a 

party. 


search  for 
la  Salle  in 
1C86. 


A   DECEITFUL  STORY. 


328 


started  with  twenty-fivo  Frenchmen  and  eleven  Indians  to  de- 
scend the  river.  In  holy  week  ho  reached  its  niontlis.  It  was 
a  solitude,  not  broken  by  bun. an  sign  for  thirty  leagues  east  or 
west,  where  he  searclied.  Tonty  wrote  a  letter  for  La  Salle 
and  conunitted  it  to  an  Indian  chief,  and  fourtc'n  years  later 
Iberville  found  it  in  the  savage's  hands.  The  dejected  searclmr 
now  turned  back.  Six  of  bis  men  volunt(;ered  ta  stay  with  tlio 
Arkansas  and  hold  a  post,  and  it  was  t\v'o  of  these  who  now 
welcomed  Joutel  and  his  friends,  and  listened  to  their  story, 
which  as  Couture  beard  it  is  rather  unsatisfactorily  set  forth 
in  a  paper  i)rinted  by  IVIargry. 

On  the  1st  of  August.  Joutel's  pai'ty  went  on  once  more,  and, 
I)assing  into  the  Mississijipi,  struggled  slowly  upstream,  bear- 
ing their  sad  story,  just  a  year  after  Tonty,  on  his  return  to  his 
l)ost,  had  conununicated  to  the  minister  the  story  of  his  luckless 
efforts  to  succor  La  Salle.  *In  Septemoer.  they  were  jqst,  scp- 
jjaddling  up  the  cpxiet  IlVaiois.  By  the  middle  of  the  *«"'''-'^- 
month,  they  were  at  the  Kock.  They  were  received  at  the  fort 
by  Belleforest,  then  in  comnuuul,  for  Tonty  had  gone  east  at 
the  summons  of  the  governor,  to  join  an  expedition  against  the 
Senecas.  A  Tf  IJeum  was  sung  in  the  chapel,  but  Allouez,  the 
missionary,  lay  ill  in  the  fort.  Joutel  tells  us  that  this  priest 
was  uneasy  when  they  told  him  that  La  Salle  was  on  his  way  to 
join  them,  being  cons>  lous  of  many  efforts  to  thwart  La  Salle's 
purposes,  and  that  it  was  a  fear  of  meeting  one  whom  he  had 
wronged  that  induced  Allouez  shortly  after  to  leave  the  fort. 
It  is  fair  to  add  that  the  Jesuit  writers  deem  such  a  story  an 
injustice  to  a  devoted  missionary,  long  resident  among  the 
Illinois. 

Why  were  Allouez  and  all  the  other  occupants  of  the  Tort 
given  to  understand  that  La  Salle  was  still  alive,  and  was  soon 
to  appear?  There  is  no  wholly  satisfactory  reason  why  such  a 
misrepresentation  was  practiced.  The  truth  was  not  long  after 
to  be  known,  when  Couture  came  up  the  river  with  the  tale  as 
he  had  learned  it  from  those  who  were  now  falsifying  its  par- 
ticulars. The  only  reasons  which  have  been  oiTei-ed  for  the 
deceit  are  that  Joutel  and  the  rest  dreaded  to  abate  the  joy 
which  their  coming  created  ;  that  in  getting  supplies  to  go  on, 
they  could  not  have  got  the  same  credit  with  La  Salle  known 
to  be  dead,  and  that  for  La  Salle's  relatives,  at  least,  there 


•  i 


I  i 


SALLE'S   TEXAN  COLONY. 

were  reasons  why  they  should  get  to  France  in  advance  of  the 
news  of  his  deatli,  to  secure  some  property  rights. 

Leaving  this  deceitful  story  behind  them,  Joutel  and  his  party 
pushed  on  to  Lake  Michigan,  where,  being  overtaken  by  a  gale, 
they  found  it  prudent  to  return  to  the  fort  in  order  to  recover 
for  a  new  start.  In  the  interval,  Tonty  had  come  back,  and 
he,  too,  was  kept  in  the  same  ignorance  of  the  truth. 
April,  1088.  jjg  fltted  them  out  with  new  supplies,  and  they  passed 
on  and  reached  Mackinac  in  safety.  Here  some  furs  wliicli 
Cavelier  had  received  from  Tonty  were  sold  on  La  Salle's  ac- 
count. With  the  burning  burden  on  their  conscience,  they  at 
last  embarked  at  Quebec.  The  truth  was  not  disclosed  when 
they  reached  France  in  October,  till  after  a  delay  which  caused 
suspicion ;  and  then  when  the  worst  was  known,  the  king  did 
nothing  to  rescue  the  poor  colony  on  the  gulf  shore.  It  was  at 
last  determined  by  the  government  that  the  mu^-derers  should 
be  apprehended  if  they  appeared  in  Canada,  and  such  an  order 
was  sent  to  the  governor  ;  but  no  one  ever  suffered  at  the  hands 
of  the  law. 

The  fate  of  the  colony  is  not  unknown.  The  vessel  which 
the  Spaniards  had  captured  near  San  Domingo  revealed  to 
them  the  cLject  of  La  Salle.  During  the  next  three  years, 
four  expeditions  were  sent  by  Spanish  authority  to  discover  the 
French,  but  without  success.  They  sxirmised  something  of 
disaster  when  they  found  the  wrecks  of  the  "  Aimable "  and 

BeUe."  It  is  probable  that  one  of  La  Salle's  deserters  finally 
tried  to  destroy  the  colony,  for  an  overland  expedition  from 
Mexico  at  last  discovered  their  fort,  and  this  party  was  thought 
to  be  led  by  a  Frenchman.  It  was  too  late,  however,  for  rescue 
or  revenge.  Three  dead  bodies  lay  on  the  ground.  It  was 
otherwise  a  scene  of  devastation  and  solitude.  A  crowd  of  sav- 
ages hovered  around,  but  gave  no  sign.  A  few  days  later,  two 
men  presented  themselves  to  the  Spanish  force.  They  were  in 
native  guise,  but  proved  to  be  two  of  the  colony,  —  L'Archeveque 
and  Grollet.  This  was  in  May,  1689,  and  according  to  their 
story,  the  renuaant  of  the  French  had  been  attacked  three 
months  before  by  Indians,  and  all  were  either  killed  or  carried 
off.  It  has  been  said  that  these  two  Frenchmen  were  sent  to 
Spain  and  thrown  into  prison  ;  but  Bandelier  claims  to  have 
found  in  the  records  of  Santa  Fe  traces  of  L'Archeveque's  later 


TONTY'S  MEMOIRS. 


325 


career  among  the  Spaniards,  and  says  thr.t  his  descendants  are 
still  living  in  that  region.  The  same  investigator  affirms  that 
he  has  discovered  traces  in  the  archives  of  New  Mexico  of  two 
others  of  La  Salle's  colony.  We  learn  from  a  report  of  the 
viceroy  of  New  Spain  that  measures  were  taken  about  1690  to 
occupy  the  Texan  country  against  the  French,  and  that  missions 
were  established  there  by  the  Spaniards,  who  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded in  rescuing  the  few  survivors  of  the  French  wlio  were 
found  among  the  native  tribes. 

A  few  years  later  (1G93),  when  Tonty  was  living  at  Fort  St. 
Louis,  he  prepared  the  Memoirs  relating  to  his  own  and  La 
Salle's  discoveries  which  is  now  accessible  in  the  Margry  col- 
lection. It  is  an  excellent  guide  to  the  historian ;  but  the  same 
cannot  be  said  of  the  Dcrniercs  Decoiivertc.s,  published  in  Paris 
in  1697,  and  in  the  next  year  in  an  English  version  at  London. 
This  publication  was  charged  ui)on  Tonty,  but  he  disowned  it, 
and  well  he  might.  Whoever  compiled  it  doubtless  used  tlie 
memoir  which  Tonty  prepared  in  1693,  but  other  less  trust- 
worthy material  was  embedded  in  it.  The  putting  of  it  together 
was  done  without  close  knowledge  of  the  events,  and  nianifests, 
moreover,  no  skill.  With  Tonty's  own  narrative  ])re3erved,  the 
book  has  little  value. 


h'f 


I 


1^    <  4'i 


I 


III  it' 


CHAPTER  XV. 


DENONVILLE   AND  DONGAN. 


1683-1687. 


1GS3.    La 
Barre. 


March,  1C84. 


With  La  Salle  gone  to  France  and  the  governor's  emissaries 
in  possession  of  what  that  projector  had  left  behind 
him,  La  Barre  closed  the  year  (1683)  with  a  pros- 
pect of  doing  something  ;  at  least,  so  people  thought  before  he 
had  time  to  show  his  timidity.  The  next  year  (1684)  opened 
with  renewed  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Iroquois.  War  par- 
ties of  the  Sonecas  were  moving  west,  and  there  were  suspicions 
that  English  packmen  were  following  in  their  rear  and  making 
trade  among  the  Shawnees  and  Choctaws.  By  March, 
some  of  La  Barre's  agents  on  their  way  to  the  Illi- 
nois were  robbed  on  the  Kankakee,  and  before  the  month  was 
over  a  party  of  Senecas  broke  upon  the  Indian  camp  near  the 
Kock,  and  Tonty  and  De  Baugis  worked  together  successfully 
in  defending  their  stronghold  for  nearly  a  week,  before  the 
assailants  retired.  When  La  Barre  heard  of  this,  the  exigency 
seemed  for  a  while  to  arouse  him,  and  he  sent  oif  messengers  to 
the  upper  lakes  to  ask  his  lieutenants  there  to  come  and  lielp 
him  punish  the  Senecas  in  their  own  country.  At  the  same 
time  he  wrote  to  Dongan,  asking  him  to  prohibit  the  sale  of 
firearms  to  the  Iroquois.  The  English  governor  reminded  him 
that  the  Iroquois  whom  it  was  proposed  to  chastise  were  British 
subjects,  and  that  he  was  quite  willing  to  make  reconq)euse  for 
their  misdeeds,  if  the  French  had  any  charges  to  prefer  against 
them. 

If  the  French  armeu  die  Illinois,  why  should  not  the  English 
]Hit  guns  in  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois  ?  Dongan  knew  that 
English  firearms  were  seen  almost  everywhere  through  Nortli 
America,  carried  by  these  same  confederates.  He  was  at  this 
time  writing  homo  that  the  Iroquois,  having  no  beaver  in  their 


I*  1^ 


MOHAWKS  AND  ONE  ID  AS. 


327 


own  country,  sent  parties,  both  for  trade  and  war,  as  far  as  the 
northwest  passage,  on  the  one  side,  and  to  the  South  Sea,  — 
wherever  he  supposed  that  to  he,  —  and  even  to  Florida,  on  the 
gulf  side.  Only  recently  Lord  Effingham  had  come  from  Vir- 
ginia to  make  the  Iroquois  agree  to  spare  the  frontiers  of  that 
colony,  and  by  treaty  Dongan  himself  had  been  hanging  the 
armorial  bearings  of  the  Duke  of  York  in  the  villages  of  the 


I 

Hi     i| 


RUINS  OF  THE  INTENDANT'S  PALACE  IN  QUEBEC. 

[Originally  built,  1G84 ;  reconstructed  at  different  times,  and  finally  destroyed  in  1785. 
a  sketoli  in  Lemolne's  Quebec,  Past  and  Present,  p.  105.] 


After 


IMohawks  and  Oneidas.  Father  de  Lamberville,  at  this  time, 
writing  from  the  Onondaga  mission  to  La  Barre,  said  that  the 
governor  of  New  York  had  sent  a  shabby  flag  with  the  English 
arms  on  it,  to  be  hoisted  among  the  Mohawks,  but  that  people 
had  shut  it  up  in  their  treasure-box.  Dongan  had  nevertheless 
arranged  with  the  confederacy  to  take  the  country  south  of  Lake 
Erie  under  the  English  protection.  The  Canadian  intendant 
knew  well  enough  what  all  this  meant,  and  wrote  to  the  king 
that  La  Barre  would  bluster,  but  would  not  fight.     Perhaps 


!| 


DENONVILLE  AND  DONGAN. 

some  of  the  lookers-on  thought  differently  when  La  Barre  in 
July  set  out  for  Fort  Frontenac.  The  Jesuits  had  alrerly 
recalled  Father  Milet  from  the  Oneida  country,  where  he  had 
kept  a  mission  for  seventeen  years.  The  governor's  bluster 
ended  as  the  intendant  had  predicted.  The  French  leader 
went  very  peaceably  across  the  lake,  and  accepted  a  truce,  in 
which  the  Senecas  would  not  abate  one  jot  of  their  purpose  to 
destroy  the  western  allies  of  the  French  if  they  could.  This 
was  the  news  which  reached  Niagara  when  Durantaye,  Duluth, 
and  Perrot  arrived  there  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  bushrangers 
and  five  hundred  Indians,  whom  they  had  led  down  from  the 
upper  lakes  for  some  savage  work,  as  La  Barre  had  proposed. 
This  western  rabble  turned  back  indignantly,  and  La  Barre's 
lieutenants  had  no  easy  task  to  hold  them  together. 

In  October,  the  intendant,  who  had  no  confidence  in  the  peo- 
october,  P^^,  could  boast  to  Ixis  government  that  he  had  not 
1684.  misjudged  their  governor.     The  king,  who  was  just 

at  this  time  looking  forward  to  La  Salle's  successes  over  the 
Spaniards  on  the  Mississippi,  was  prompt  to  decide  that  a 
different  leader  must  be  given  to  the  Canadians,  if  the  English 
were  to  be  restrained  on  the  lakes.  DonfT,n  in  New  York  had 
proved  an  adversary  that  no  common  man  could  wrestle  with, 
and  the  French  were  beginning  to  understand  that  their  move- 
ments beyond  the  mountains  were  now  watched  by  a  man  who 
had  a  decided  western  policy  for  his  government.  It 
nonviiie  was  to  Struggle  with  such  a  man  that  Denonville,  in 
the  autumn  of  1685,  came  to  Quebec  as  governor,  fol- 
lowed by  a  fresh  accession  of  troops,  not  all  of  whom,  however, 
survived  the  tumultuous  voyage. 

With  a  vigilant  antagonist  in  New  York,  the  commandant  at 
Quebec  was  not  in  an  enviable  position.  The  town  was  but  a 
nest  of  inflammable  tenements,  and  had  not  a  gate  that  would 
shut.  The  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  had  just  taken 
place  (October  18),  and  there  was  no  hope  in  a  resuscitated 
strength  through  immigration,  while  the  Huguenots  were  instill- 
ing new  and  vigorous  blood  throughout  the  English  colonies. 

The  new  governor,  in  the  midst  of  this  condition  of  affairs, 
was  writing  home  of  the  dangers.  He  wanted  Fort  Frontenac 
strengthened,  the  vessels  on  Ontario  repaired,  and  new  ones 
put  on  Erie.     "These  precautions,"  he  said,  "are  necessary, 


THEIR   CHARACTERS. 


329 


if  we  are  to  keep  the  English  from  securing  the  western  fur 
trade." 

It  was  the  belief  in  Canada  that  Dongan  was  inciting  the 
Iroquois  to  further  strife.  He  himself  denied  that  he  Denonviue 
followed  any  clandestine  methods,  and  it  seems  quite  a""ii^°°8an. 
clear  that  the  French  Jesuits,  who  were  still  among  the  Onon- 
dagas,  did  not  have  any  such  suspicions.  Denonville,  as  a 
devotee  of  the  Jesuits,  may  perhaps  have  known  what  these 
priests  thought.  As  representatives  of  their  respective  royal 
masters,  Denonville  was  far  more  fortunate  than  Dongan.  The 
I  rench  governor  had  behind  him  in  Louis  XIV.  a  potentate 
whose  ambition  he  could  share.  The  timidity  of  James  II.  in 
every  way  in  which  he  was  brought  to  measure  capacity  with 
his  neighbor  across  the  channel  left  his  American  representa- 
tive with  only  the  shadow  of  support.  In  his  own  province, 
Dongan  had  a  population  half  as  large  again  as  that  of  Canada, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  moral  support  of  a  much  larger  prepon- 
derance of  numbers  in  the  adjacent  English  colonies. 

Dongan  was  the  only  governor  along  the  Atlantic  slope  who 
was  a  constant  source  of  anxiety  to  the  French.  The  Canadians 
knew  that  the  Iroquois  dealt  their  strokes  at  the  Illinois  with 
greater  security  because  these  English  of  New  York  were  their 
allies.  Denonville  felt  that  by  the  instructions  which  Louis  had 
given  him  (March  10,  1G85),  it  had  become  his  duty  to  dispell 
the  disquiet  which  La  Barre's  abandonment  of  the  Illinois  had 
occasioned.  He  was  expected  to  show  that  the  power  of  France 
must  and  could  protect  her  Indian  allies. 

The  English  intentions  were  always  a  doubtful  quantity. 
"  We  have  always  the  English  to  warn  us  both  on  the  north 
and  on  the  south,"  said  Duchesneau  a  little  while  before,  "  and 
the  Iroquois  are  a  constant  threat.  Perhaps  we  can  placate  the 
Indians ;  perhaps  destroy  them  ;  but  a  great  deal  of  uncertainty 
would  be  cleared  up,  if  we  could  only  buy  the  region  dependent 
on  Albany."  And  this  wish  remained  as  constant  as  the  trouble- 
someness  of  the  English  and  Iroquois.  Denonville  expressed  the 
tiresome  uncertainty  of  the  situation  when  he  declared  it  impos- 
sible to  know  just  what  to  expect  of  a  neighbor  who  was,  as 
he  phrased  it,  both  lawless  and  infidel.  He  could  see  no  remedy 
but  in  an  increase  of  the  Canadian  population,  and  bringing 
into  more  compact   settlements  what  they  already  had.     The 


330 


DENONVILLE  AND  DONGAN. 


mischief  lay  in  everybody  trying  to  advance  his  little  trading, 
post  into  the  wilderness  to  catch  the  fur  trader  all  the  sooner. 

It  was  clearly  a  part  of  the  English  policy  to  confront  the 
French  traders  at  the  west  wherever  they  could,  and  to  outbid 
them  in  offers  for  the  Indian  fur.  They  even  went  to  Mackinac, 
and  were  Imown  among  the  Foxes  near  Green  Bay,  and  were 
successful  in  diverting  a  good  deal  of  trade  from  the  French. 
Dongan  did  not  hesitate  to  give  English  passes  to  Frenchmen 
and°send  them  among  the  Ottawas,  who,  in  the  main,  were 
middlemen  in  the  peltry  trade,  having  few  beaver  in  their  own 
territory.  In  May,  1686,  Denonville  was  complaining 
^'^^^'  to  Seignelay  that  French  renegades  were  leading  Eng- 

lish parties  across  Ontario.  This  was  in  defiance  of  the  royal 
order,  issued  in  April,  1684,  which  made  it  death  for  a  Cana- 
dian  to  emigrate  to  Albany  or  Manhattan. 

To  frustrate  this  audacity,  the  French  governor  tried  to  inter- 
pose armed  posts  in  their  way.  He  ordered  Duluth  to  the 
Detroit  River  with  fifty  men,  and  Durantaye  built  a  stockade 
at  the  Chicago  portage.  Nothing  disturbed  Denonville  more 
than  the  reckless  and  abandoned  dispersement  of  the  woods- 
B^,^,,.  men,  —  boAidits  he  called  them,— who  under   some 

rangers.  organization  might  become  a  help,  but  in  their  lawless- 
ness were  only  a  mischief.  It  was  not  always  they  could  be 
forced  to  offer  resistance  to  an  enemy.  When  by  combination 
they  could  have  protected  the  region  of  their  trade,  their  wanton 
independency  left  the  Iroquois  to  raid  the  country  about  Lake 
Superior  so  effectively  that  the  marts  at  Montreal  were  without 
peltry  from  that  district. 

It  was  to  remedy  this  that  the  government  instituted  some 
active  movements  on  the  one  side  toward  Hudson's  Bay,  and 
on  the  other  toward  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  In 
the  last  direction,  they  had  in  the  field  a  vigilant  leader  in 
Nicolas  Perrot.  He  had  been  in  command  at  Green 
Bay,  and  thence  with  a  small  party  he  struck  across 
the  country  which  Duluth  and  Hennepin  had  traversed, 
and  planted  the  French  flag  on  forts  and  stockades.  He  built 
one  such  post  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  and 
another  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Pepin.  He  kept  his  ears  open  for 
reports  of  more  remote  regions,  and  hoard  of  a  distant  people  to 
the  west,  who  wore  ornaments  of  stone  in  their  ears  and  noses. 


Nicolas 
Perrot  at 
tlie  west. 


HUDSON'S  BAY. 


331 


"When  he  heard  that  there  were  others  among  them  who  used 
horses  and  looked  like  the  French,  he  knew  them  to  be  the 
Spaniards  of  New  Mexico,  whom  the  French  might  yet  encoun- 
ter in  the  southwest.     Hearing  of  some  lowas  up  the  ^^^^  ^^^^ 
river,  a  tribe  which  the  French  had  not  yet  met  with, 
he  went  to  seek  them.     From  this  direction  there  came  stories 
of  men  in  houses  which  walked  on  the  water,  and  he  knew  that 
the  English  were  still  pressing  their  trade  in  Hudson's  Bay. 
Duluth,  meanwhile,  was  directly  facing  this  impending  p,,,,,^,,^^^^. 
danger.     He  had  been  among  the  tribes  which  sought  [■;«  ^"j;;^",^;' 
the  English  of  the  great  bay,  giving  presents,  and  al- 
lurino"  them  to  the  French  posts.     He  had  written  to  Quebec 
that  in  two  years  he  could  break  up  this  English  trade.     At 
last  an  overland  expedition  from  Montreal  set  out  in  March, 
1685,  going  from  the  Ottawa  River,  along  a  route  jj^^^,,  jggg^ 
which  some  hardy  bushrangers  had  found  the  year 
before.     The  force  was  placed  under  the  command  of  the  Chev- 
alier De  Troyes,  and  with  him,  as  his  lieutenant,  went  Troyenand 
Iberville,  an  indomitable  spirit,  in  whom  New  France  HuSIoiV' 
and  Louisiana  were  to  have  much  confidence  for  some  ^*^' 
years  to  come.     Troyes  scoured  the  shores  of  James's  Bay  with 
great   alacrity,  capturing  Forts  Hayes  and  Rupert.     He  com- 
pleted his  round  of  devastation  at  Fort  Albany.     The  Canadian 
Company  of  the  North  had  got  its  revenge  on  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  it  was  by  no  means  certain  that  this  success  was 
not  as  gratifying  to  the  Catholic  king  of  England  as  to  the 
grand  monarch  himself.    When  the  specious  treaty  of  neutrality 
was  signed  between  the  two  powers  at  AVhitehall  (No-  ^^^^^  ^^^ 
vember  16,  1686),  Troyes  was  back  in  Quebec.     The  J^^;}y^^-^_ 
few  survivors  of  the  captured  garrisons,  crowded  in  a  i|jj«J^and 
single  small  vessel,  entered  English  waters  to  learn 
how  they  had  been  abandoned  by  such  a  peace.    The  Bay  Com- 
pany had  ground  enough  for  redress,  and  petitioned  the  crown ; 
but  as  long  as  Louis  was  keeping  James  on  his  throne,  there 
was  no  remedy.     There  must,  however,  be  some  show  of  resent- 
ment, and  the  French  busied  themselves  with  proving  before  a 
commission  that  the  English  were  but  interlopers  in  the  great 
bay,  and  were   properly  expelled.     The  controversy  ended  as 
might  have  been  expected.     The  French  remained  in  possession 
tilf  the  vexed  question  of  priority  could  be  settled,  and  the  Eng- 


332 


DENONVILLE  AND  DONG  AN. 


m   I 


I 


Hsh  king  warned  the  American  colonies  by  a  circular  letter 
(January,  1G88)  not  to  mar  the  prosperity  of  the  French  moan- 
while.     The  war  which  followed  the  expulsion  of  James,  the 


next  year,  threw  this  vast  territory  of  the  north  once  more,  as 
we  shall  see,  in  the  scales  of  contention. 

Meanwhile  this  success  under  Troyes  found  a  contrast  less 
pleasant  for  the  French  to  the   south  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 


THE  IROQUOIS. 


833 


Louis  could  bid  the  English  king  to  instruct  Dongun  to  keep 
the  peace,  but  there  was  no  connnission  to  be  intrusted  with 
settling  the  cpiestion  of  interloping  in  the  Iroquois  Rival  ciaima 
country ;  indeed,  Denonville  soon  found  that  the  *,',',oi8*cJuu. 
documentary  registry  of  the  evidences  of  early  French  *''*• 
expeditions  to  the  countiy  south  of  Ontario  was  nowhere  to  be 
discovered  in  the  archives  of  Canada,  and  he  informed  Seigne- 
lay  that  Tahni  must  have  taken  such  papers  to  France.  lie 
aftirjned,  too,  that  Talon  had  carried  oft'  the  agreement,  signed 
by  the  Iroquois  in  1GG7,  to  put  themselves  under  the  French 
king's  dominion.  All  this  was  embarrassing  in  his  correspond- 
ence with  so  wary  a  diplomatist  as  Dongan.  The  best  that 
Denonville  could  do  was  what  Vaudreuil  and  Begon  did  at  a 
later  day,  —  to  search  the  Jesuit  lichitions  for  such  unofficial 
records  as  could  be  found  on  going  back  for  forty  years.  Don- 
gan had  something  better  vouched  in  the  various  recorded  trea- 
ties which  the  English  had  made  with  the  Iroquois,  by  which 
they  succeeded  to  their  rights  of  dominion. 

Denonville,  aware  that  he  was  expected  to  make  the  Iroquois 
feel  the  French  power  with  little  delay,  had  soon  discovered 
that  it  took  many  months  to  bring  the  forces  scattered  through- 
out New  France  to  bear  upon  any  one  point.     Durantaye  and 
Duluth,  whose  assistance  was  necessary,  were  too  remote  to  be 
communicated  with  for  any  concerted  action  during  November, 
the  next  season,  and  it  was  in  November,  1685,  that  ^^^^' 
the  governor  was  thus  looking  ahead.     The  long  interval,  how- 
ever, could  be  employed  in  provisioning  the  fort  at  Cataraqui 
and  making  needful  preparations.     In  the  spring  of 
1687,  events  were  moving  forward.     The  governor's 
messengers  had  long  since  departed  to  his  lieutenants  in  the 
west ;  and  by  this  time  Dongan,  who  learned  of  the  plan,  had 
warned  the  Iroquois.    It  was  by  no  means  certain,  after  the  dis- 
appointment which  had  been  felt  at  La  Barre'a  recusancy,  that 
the  western  Indians  could  be  brought  again  to  the  task.     The 
French  w^ere  pretty  sure  to  have  to  confront,  if  the  confederates 
combined,  about  two  thousand  of  the  best  warriors  that  the  red 
race  could  produce.     These  fighters  were  not  indeed  iroquois 
all  of  the  old  stocks  of  the  confederacy,  for  debauch-  ^"'*^''*' 
ery  had  checked  their  natural  increase,  and  the  losses  of  num- 


884 


DENONVILLE  AND  DON  a  AN. 


bers  ill  their  incessant  wars  had  been  largely  repaired  by  tlio 
adoption  of  tlieir  j)ri.soner3.  But  the  prestige!  of  the  lro<piois 
name  was  s^  that  the  aliens  grew  to  the  woiK  imposed  \\\)^m 
tluMU.  It  was  supposed  that  about  twelve  hundred  Mohegaus 
could  also  be  brought  against  the  Frcncii. 

It  had  been  a  jirovision  of  the  treaty  of  neutrality  between 
Louis  XIV.  and  James  II.  that  the  eolonius  should  ivniain  at 
pi'ace,  however  the  native  tribes  shoidd  be  impelled  to  war. 
Jsotwithstanding  this,  the  French  government  had  been  sending 
over  more  regular  troo])s,  and  something  like  sixteen  hundred 
soldiers  were  at  Denonvil?-  's  dis})osal.  Ho  expected  to  use 
them  largely  in  garrisoning  posts,  while  the  more  experienei'd 

militia  were  to  bo  used  in  the  campaign.  It  was  Juiil 
D""'Mvm'e'8  13,  1G87,  when  he  left  Montreal,  at  tho  head  of  eight 
cniiiiNusu.  jj^,jjjj,^,j  troops,  and  ho  found  ho  had  two  thousand 
with  him  when  ho  reached  Fort  Frontenac.  Here  he  gave  him- 
self to  a  fiendish  act,  and  it  has  been  alleged,  not,  however, 
by  proof  which  the  Catholic  historians  accept,  that  the  bishop 
approved  it.  A  number  of  unolt'ending  Irocpxois  who  were  liv- 
ing near  tho  fort  were  seized  to  prevent  their  sending  tidings 
Iroquois  tor-  across  the  lake,  which  act  was  defensible  ;  but  they 
tured.  ^y^>j,g  (.jg^i  t^)  stakes  and  tortured  for  the  anuisement  of 

the  neighboring  mis.-nion  Indians,  which  was  certainly  indefensi- 
ble, even  if  in  dying  they  kissed  the  cross  to  save  their  souls. 

Denonville  had  not  recalled  tho  missionary  Lamber- 

ville,  who  was  among  the  Onondagas,  for  fear  of  ex- 
citing suspicion.  This  proceeding  meant  abandoning  him  to  his 
fate.  If  Charlevoix  is  to  be  trusted,  the  Iroquois  took  no 
advantage  of  their  opportunity,  but  suffered  him  to  depart.  IIo 
soon  appeared  at  Cataraqui,  to  look  with  hoiror,  let  us  hope, 
on  the  inhumanity  of  a  higher  race.  It  was  July  4  when  the 
imposing  flotilla  of  four  hundred  canoes  and  bateaux  moved 
away  from  Fort  Frontenac.  Three  days  before,  Denonville  luul 
heard  from  Niagara  —  this  form  of  the  name  was  just  now  com- 
ing into  vogue,  and  was  to  be  made  popular  shortly  after  in  Coro- 
nelli's  maj)  —  that  tho  contingent  from  tho  west  for  which  lie 

had  hoped  had  reached  that  point.  With  this  rein- 
h,'ti'.?ana"'  forcement  was  Tonty,  who  had  come  from  the  Koek 
jo'inDe^ou-    with  sixtcon  French  and  two  hundred  Indians.     He 

had  struck  across  the  country  to  Detroit,  and  there 


Lamber 
vlUe. 


FORT  FRONT  EN  AC, 


%r- 


[From  the  London  I>Iuya:iiie,  ITOS.j 


it 


886 


DENONVILLK  AND  DONG  AN. 


!       .i'l 


he  had  met  nnd  joined  Dulutli,  coming  with  a  largo  body  from 
the  upper  hikes,  and  Durantaye,  who  led  a  force  from  iVIackinae. 
On  Lake  Huron,  their  lieutenants  had  met  and  captured  a  trad- 


DENOXVILLE'S  MARCH. 
[From  La  Honta :  'a  Noureuux  Voyurjvs.'^ 


ing  party  of  Dutch  and  English,  who  were  seeking  traffic  under 
permits  from  Dongan.  On  Lake  Erie,  a  second  party  fell  into 
their  hands.     Their  prisoners  were  sixty  in  all,  and  che  plunder 


THE  SEN  EC  AS  ATTACKED. 


837 


of  their  canoes  was  valuable.    Towards  the  end  of  June,  they 
had  all  assembled  at  Niagara,  when  the  word  was  sent  on  to 
C'ataraqui.     They  numbered   about   one  hundred   and   eighty 
French,  and  four  hundred  Indians.     Bv  the  return  of  the  nios- 
songer,  they  were  ordered  to  join  Denonville  at  Irondec^uoit  liay. 
On  July  10,  these  two  sections  of  the  invading  force,  coming  from 
opposite  directions,  met  at  that  rendezvous,  being  together  not 
far  from  three  thousand  men.     One  day  was  npent  iu  building 
a  fort,  in  which  four  hundred  men  were  left  to  protect  ics;,  juiy. 
their  c.inoes.     On  July  12,  they  began  their  march  in-  ^dimtry  ui- 
land,  carrying   provisions  for   thirteen  days.     There  ^'^'^*''^' 
were  twenty-two  miles  before  them,  and  on  they  plodded,  Cal- 
licres  leading  a  vanguard  of  biishrangers  and  Indians,  Denon- 
ville following  with  his  regulars  and  Canadians,  while  a  body  of 
savages  and  a  force  of  wh'  .,  men  almost  as  savage  brought  up 
the  rear.     The  day  was  one  of  sweltering  heat.     Suddenly  the 
van  found  itself  in  an  ambush  of  three  hundred  Senecas.    There 
was  some  loss  on  both  sides,  for  the  enemy,  unaware  of  the 
nearness  of  the  main  body,  were  over-bold.     The  defenders  at 
last  yielded.     The  French  were  glad  of  a  halt  for  the  night. 
The  next  morning,  the  van  advanced  with  caution,  and  was 
unopposed.     The  Senecas  had  sent  off  their  women,  hid  their 
treasures,  and  burned  their  chief  town.     The  invaders  u-^ic  to 
the  blackened  ruins,  and  made  everything  wherever  they  went 
blacker  still.     They  uprooted  gardens  and  cornfields.      They 
h'veled  everything  that  stood.     There  were  ten  days  of  liavoc, 
but  the  marauders  were  not   spared  a  misery   of  their  own. 
They  ate  immoderately  of   green  corn  and  fresh  pork,  —  for 
the  hogs  of  the  villages  were  ninning  wild,  —  and  sickened. 
The  wild  riot  maddened  their  Indian  allies,  and  they  scattered 
in  crowds.     On  the  24th,  such  of  the  bewildered  force  xiie  French 
as  had  kept  together  returned  to  their  canoes.     He- 
cmbarking  and  coursing  alongshore   to   Niagara,  Denonville 
built  there  a  fort  on  the  site  of  the  one  constructed  by  Fortbuutat 
La  Salle.     He  left  the  Chevalier  de  Troyes  with  a  ^''"«"'- 
hundred  men  to  hold  it,  and  then  tlie  flotilla  started  down  the 
lake,  and  on  August  13  Denonville  was  at  JNIontreal. 

The  governor  had  inflicted  a  chastisement,  but  only  upon  the 
Senecas.  The  other  tribes  of  the  great  confederacy  were  un- 
hurt.     He  had  done  nothing,  in  fact,  from  which  tbe  Senecas 


338 


DENONVILLE  AND  DONG  AN. 


themselves  could  not  readily  recover.  He  had  killed  but  few 
of  them.  He  had  destroyed  their  villages  and  ruined  their 
crops,  but  their  habitations  were  easily  replaced,  and  English 
corn  was  to  be  had  for  the  asking. 

We  have  Denonville's  own  account  of  these  proceedings.  It 
Denonviue's  was  fouud  by  Brodhcad  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine 
narrative.  ^|.  Paris,  and  Mr.  O.  H.  Marshall  published  it  for  tlio 
first  time.     It  can  bo  supplemented  by  a  variety  of  minor 


lEOQUOIS  COUNTRY,  BY  BAFFEIX,  1688. 
[From  a  map  in  the  Bibliotli^que  Nstionale  at  Paris.] 


sources,  so  that  we  are  not  at  any  loss  in  telling  the  story. 
Marshall  has  succeeded  best  in  identifying  the  sites  of  the  cam- 
paign, and  he  places  them  b  his  map  near  the  modern  town  of 
Victor. 

It  was  on  his  return  to  the  Rock,  on  October  27,  1687,  that 
1087.  October  Touty  met  Joutel  and  heard  the  false  stories  about  La 
back^to  thi  Salle.  A  few  weeks  later,  when  Couture  came  up  the 
d^scmXthe  river  and  Tonty  learned  the  truth,  he  started  down 
Missiasippi.     ^Q  ^j^Q  ^,^^if  ^yj^ij  f^^Q  Frenchmen  and  three  Indian's, 

to  do  what  he  could  to  rescue  the  poor  lingerers  at  the  Texan 
fort.  He  was  not  without  some  hope,  too,  of  banding  the 
river  tribes  and  attacking  the  Spaniards ;  for  Couture  had  sug- 
gested the  practicability  of  doing  so,  and  the  plan  had  a  certain 


THE  GENESEE  COUNTRY. 


339 


opportuneness  in  it,  since  he  had  just  heard  from  Denonville 
of  war  with  Spain  being  declared.     It  was  early  in  December 


oF.  tliat  part  of  the 

GENESEE  COUNTRY, 

THE  MARQUIS    DE    NONVILLE. 


[A  section  of  the  ranp  given  in  0.  H.  MarslmlVs  ITislorical  Wriliiiffs.  Tlie  dnsh-and-dot  line  is 
Deiionville's  route  ;  tlie  dasii  lines  show  Indian  patlia.  A,  Indian  flsliiug  atatiou.  B,  C,  M,  N, 
tlie  four  principal  Seneca  villages.    X»,  Indian  village.     T,  the  fort.] 

when  Tonty  left  his  fort.  Late  in  March  (1G89),  he  was  at  the 
Red  River.  Here  he  got  tidings,  as  he  thought,  of  Heins,  one 
of  La  Salle's  conspirators,  and  resolved  to  find  him  if  he  could. 


340 


DENONVILLE  AND  DONG  AN. 


His  men  revolted,  and  only  two  would  accompany  him  further. 
He  lost  his  powder  while  crossing  a  river,  and  when  he  reached 
the  village  that  he  sought,  he  found  nothing  of  the  German, 
but  suspected  by  the  bearing  of  the  Indians  that  they  had 
killed  him. 

Tonty  had  no  courage,  perhaps  no  strength,  for  further  trial. 
Hie  life  lu,  a  ^c  tumcd  his  canoe  upstream,  and  after  many  tribu- 
t"^"-  lations  reached  his  Illinois  fort.  The  next  year,  in 
consideration  of  his  unselfish  services,  a  royal  grant  made  him 
master  of  his  stronghold,  and  he  lived  on  there  for  a  dozen 
years,  trading  with  the  Indians  who  came  to  the  post.  The 
government  regarded  him  kindly,  and  when  it  stopped  other 
unofBcial  trading,  it  suffered  his  to  go  on ;  and  year  by  year 
two  of  his  canoes  and  twelve  men  brought  his  peltry  to  a 
market  as  long  as  the  fortress  on  the  Rock  was  permitted  to 
exist.  In  1702,  a  royal  order  caused  it  to  be  abandoned,  and 
Tonty  sought  Iberville  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FRONTENAC   RECALLED. 

1687-1698. 

It  was  said  at  the  time  that  in  his  devastation  of  the  Seneca 
country,  Denonville  had  destroyed  the  wasps'  nest, 
but  the   wasps  were  unharmed.     As  always  results  idationia 

,  ,  .  Canada. 

from  such  a  success,  the  victorious  party  was  more 
alarmed  than  the  beaten  one.  There  was  trepidation  through- 
out the  St.  Lawrence  settlements.  The  noise  of  axe  and  beetle 
betrayed  the  work  of  palisading  on  every  hand.  There  was 
a  cessation  of  the  fur  trade,  for  the  prowling  Senecas  were  too 
numerous  to  be  evaded. 

On'  the  other  hand,  Dongan  was  not  intimidated,  but  he  was 
anxious.     He  had  promptly  protested  against  the  occupation  of 
Niagara,  —  Onygaro  as  he  called  it,  — and  was  not  quite  sure 
but  some  movement  against  Albany  was  hatching  in  Quebec. 
There  was  ground  for  the  suspicion,  for  Callieres  was  Anxiety  in 
sent  to  Paris  to  present  a  project  of   invading  New    New  York. 
York  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  and  capturing  Manhattan,  a 
scheme  that  always  came  to  the  minds  of  the  Canadian  leaders 
when  matters  grew  unbearable.     There  were  French  spies  in 
Albany  that  were  not  easy  to  discover ;  but  Dongan  expelled 
the  Jesuits  from  the  Iroquois  villages,  and  stopped 
any  revelations  through  that  source.     In  November, 
(1687),  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  to  be  an  end  to  the  prevari- 
cations of  the  English  king,  when  word  reached  Dongan  that 
he  must  protect  the  Iroquois  against  any  repetition  of  the  re- 
cent raid  ;  but  the  feeling  that  some  sort  of  a  stand  could  at 
last  be  made  did  not  continue  long.     James  yielding  pongan  re- 
to  the  exactions  of  Louis,  Dongan  was  recalled,  and  '^*"*''' 
the  English  colonists  were  deprived  of  the  ablest  leader  they 
had  had  in  their  contention  with  the  French.     This  was  some 


342 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


relief  to  Denonville,  but  he  was  not  so  content  with  the  ru- 
mors which  came  from  the  west.  The  old  antipathy  against 
La  Salle  was  perpetuated  in  the  suspicion  entertained  of  his 
successors,  and  Denonville  was  by  no  means  sure  that  mischief 
was  not  brewing  in  the  Illinois  country.  He  feared  that  the 
young  men  in  Tonty's  company  valued  the  profits  of  trade  more 
than  loyalty  to  France,  and  that  they  only  awaited  an  oppor- 
tunity to  carry  their  interests  over  to  the  English.  Denon- 
ville's  recommendation  to  the  home  government  was  to  change 
the  governor  in  that  region  often  enough  to  prevent  the  ripen- 
ing of  any  mischievous  plot. 

Sir  Edmund  Andros,  with  more  extensive  power,  covering 
Sir  Edmund  ^cw  England  as  well  as  New  York,  succeeded  Don- 
Andros.  g^^.  He  was  soon  made  to  understand  that  the  Eng- 
lish king  had  constituted  the  Five  Nations  as  a  part  of  his 
subjects.  It  was  a  renewed  instance  of  playing  fast  and  loose 
on  James's  part.  Andros  was  quite  of  Dongan's  spirit,  and  he 
had  forbidden  the  Iroquois  to  yield  to  the  temptations  which 
the  French  were  offering,  under  what  they  evidently  supposed 
were  better  chances  of  success,  now  that  Dongan  had  gone.  To 
accept  some  advantage  from  the  Iroquois,  the  Canadians  proved 
willing  to  abandon  the  Illinois  once  more.  They  were  ready  to 
cause  even  the  destruction  of  Fort  St.  Joseph  in  order  to  ap- 
pease the  confederates. 

The  sacrifice  was  premature,  for  on  July  14,  1689,  the  flight 
of  James  II.  from  England  was  known  in  Quebec, 
TheEngUBh  and  there  was  an  end  of  French  influence  at  the  Eng- 
known  in"  Hsh  court.  War  between  the  two  countries  was  cer- 
Quebec.  ^^.^^  Perrot  had  already  been  ordered  to  the  western 
country,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1688  he  had  passed  with  forty 
men,  by  Green  Bay  and  the  Fox  River,  into  the  region 
Perrot  at  the  bordering  upon  the  upper  Mississippi.  On  the  8th  of 
'''''■  May  (1689),  on  the  Wisconsin  side  of  Lake  Pepin, 

he  emphasized  the  French  claim  to  the  possession  of  all  tliis 
region  watered  by  the  St.  Croix,  St.  Peter,  and  the  other  afflu- 
ents of  the  grea4;  river,  and  took  formal  occupation, 
under  the  observation  of  a  notary.  Pierre  le  Sueur, 
whose  name  had  been  associated  since  1683  with  the  early  ex- 
plorations on  the  upper  Mississippi  and  in  the  present  Minne- 
sota, was  with  him  at  the  time. 


Pierre  le 
Sueur. 


LACHINE   ATTACKED. 


343 


At  this  period,  when  England  exerted  herself  to  secure  a 
Protestant  succession,  and  Franco  was  under  the  most  imperial 
of  her  kings,  in  the  greatest  amplitude  of  his  powers,  a  politi- 
cal prophet,  as  Professor  Seeley  says  in  his  Expansion  of 
England.,  comparing  the  prospects  of  these  two  colonizing 
powers,  might  have  been  led,  by  observing  what  an  advantage 
the  possession  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi  p,.g„p,,  ^^^ 
valley  gave  to  France,  to  think  that  in  the  future  sHCLd 
North  America  would  belong  rather  to  her  than  to  p'o^p^c's- 
England,  notwithstanding  there  were  but  about  twelve  thousand 
Frenchmen  on  the  continent,  to  something  like  two  hundred 
thousand  English.  La  Salle  had,  it  is  true,  failed  at  the  mouth 
of  the  great  river,  but  there  was  no  one  as  yet  to  dispute 
the  French  sway  along  its  banks.  There  had  been  danger  at 
the  north,  but  Duluth,  Perrot,  and  Tonty  were  vigilant.  The 
English,  indeed,  had  threatened  to  extend  their  influence  from 
Hudson's  Bay  by  the  attractions  of  trade  rather  than  by  occu- 
pying the  soil.  It  was  a  struggle  in  which  English  mercantile 
thrift  was  set  against  the  flexible  adaptability  to  circumstances 
which  characterized  the  French  intercourse  with  the  natives. 
The  greater  superiority  of  the  English  as  colonists  has  usually 
been  recognized  by  the  French  themselves,  unless  they  limited 
the  sphere  of  colonization  to  the  pioneer  work  of  the  bush- 
ranger, as  Rameau  has  done  in  comparing  the  two.  At  this 
very  time  a  memorial  was  presented  to  fejignelay,  setting  forth 
the  instability  of  trade  and  fur-hunting  in  comparison  with  the 
tilling  of  the  soil,  as  conducing  to  colonial  prosperity. 

But  the  chief  danger  to  the  French  lay  nearer  their  main 
settlements,  and  did  not  diminish  till  the  Iroquois,  ten  or  fifteen 
years  later,  began  to  lose  their  prestige.     The  revenge  for  the 
devastation  of  the  Senecas  came  suddenly,  when  a  failure  in  in- 
vesting Fort  Frontenac  set  fourteen  or  fifteen  hun-  iggg  ^^_ 
dved  of  the  confederates  free  to  fall  (August,  4,  5,  ^,"?';  ^' 
1689)  upon  the  settlement  at  Lachine.    Death  or  cap-  '»'^^*'i- 
ture  came  to  three  or  four  hundred  unprepared  victims.     The 
suddenness  of  the  attack  seemed  to  paralyze  Denonville,  since 
lie  countermandeti  orders  for  pursuit,  when  Subercase,  who  had 
reached  the  scene  from  Montreal,  was  prepared  to  hunt  the 
assailants  down.     Dr.  Shea  does  not  doubt  En-jlish  complicity 
in  this  movement  of  the  Iroquois ;   and  why  should  he,  when 


t'aiMdip>.iu«a(iiaw>... 


344  FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 

French  and  English  were  as  barbarous  as  their  savage  depen- 
dants?  There  is  little  doubt  that  Governor  Leisler  of  New 
York  had  prompted  them  to  the  futile  effort  to  capture  Fort 
Frontenac.  If  they  failed  in  this,  they  succeeded  in  luring 
Father  Milet  out  of  the  stronghold,  and  ran  him  off  to  the 


FRANQUELIN,   lliSS. 


Oneida  country.  We  have  his  own  account  of  his  captivity, 
and  the  Enghsh  at  Albany  did  not  pi  ofit  much  in  the  face  of 
the  influence  which  he  acquired  in  the  savage  councils. 

It  had  earlier  become  apparent  that  if  there  was  to  be  open 
war  along  the  frontiers,  the  French  needed  a  better  leader  than 


CORONELLI  AND   TTLLEMON. 


345 


Denonville.     Consequently  there  was  general  acquiescence  in 
the  wisdom  of  the  choice  when  Frontenac  came  back 


1089. 


to  his  old  post.     His  remembered  career  gave  ground  f>  .tenac 
for  hope,  and  the  necessity  for  a  mar  of  his  indomita- 
ble courage  and  unfailing  resources  had  induced  the  king  to 


O 

1-? 

o 

f 

w 

t-l 

c 

K 

s< 

g 

M 

O 

r 

H-» 

^ 

1*- 

o 

1 

forget  all  the  charges  which  had  compelled  his  recall  seven 
years  before.  Frontenac  did  not  disappoint  expectation,  though 
he  was  now  a  man  of  threescore  and  ten. 

His  instructions,  which  were  dated  June  7,  1689,  had  made 
it  imperative  on  him  to  attempt  two  things,  —  the  expulsion  of 


MM 


346 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


! 


RAFFEIX'S  MAP. 


347 


the  English  from  Hudson's  Bay,  and  the  capture  of  New  York. 
The  last  did  not  contemplate  Callicres's  plan  of  invasion  along 
Lake  Champlain,  except  as  subordinate  to  a  direct  naval  attack 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  widely  at 
variance  with  the  geographical  conditions  of  the  problem  were 


the  current  notions  which  prevailed  even  in  Holland  at  this 
time,  notwithstanding  the  close  intimacy  which  the  Dutch  had 
had  with  this  region.  Official  knowledge  in  France  was  of 
course  much  better,  but  the  Amsterdam  edition  of  Blome's 
America,  which  was  just  published  (1688),  makes  the  portage 
between  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic  at  a  divide  which 


m 


' 


348 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


Be  mrated  the  headwaters  of   the  Connecticut  River  and  tho 
sources  of  Ia1?o  Champlain. 

The   ^oJ^r-uo  oi    invasion  of   the   English  colonies,  at'   thoy 
uudci.^too.J  I;  ii^  the  cabinets  of  Quebec  and  Paris,  was  a  fai- 
reaching  one.     It  would  isolate  New  England  for  the  same  end 
which  Burgoyne  and  Clinton  sougiit,  when  in  1777  they  aimr.l 
at  uniting  their  forces  at  Albany.     It  would  de].rive  thu  Iro- 
quois of  their  accustomed  de]>endence  ou  the  1    iglish,  and  so 
check  their  western  -  uding.     il  would  give  to  (   uiadi.in  t -ado 
a  harbor  that  was  not  blocked  by  ice  a  large  part  of  the  year. 
It  was  hoped  that  the  campaign  could  bfc  consummated  l)y 
October  (^1089)  ;  but  that  month  had  already  come, 
Sttempt°on    whcu  the  flcct  uudcr  Frontenac  reached  the  Gulf  of 
Hew  York.     ^^^  Lawreucc.     To   perfect  the   strategical   arrange- 
ments involved,  and  organize  a  land  service,  the  goveraov,  leav- 
ing the  fleet  in  the  gulf,  had  intended  to  go  on  to  Qutsbec, 
and  when  all  was  ready  to  send  back  word  to  his  naval  asso- 
ciate in  the  gulf,  win  >  was  then  to  proceed  to  New  York.     All 
this,  to  be  effect    o,  ought  to  have  been  done  at  an  earlier 
season.    Th'jrefore  it  was  not  long  before  the  French  detervnined 
that  the  project  must  be  abandoned  for  that  year  at  least. 

The  demoralization  which  Frontenac  found  on  reaching 
Quebec,  as  it  turned  out,  gave  no  time  to  think  of  any  such 
offensive  undertaking.  With  the  opening  of  the  year 
SbiTat  (January,  1690),  it  was  known  in  Quebec  that  con- 
the  west.  gpi^j^py  agi.inst  the  French  had  ripened  among  the 
tribes  around  Mackinac.  Tliey  were  known  to  be  joining  in  the 
councils  of  the  Irocpiois.  The  Foxes  were  rendering  the  portage 
to  the  Illinois  by  Green  Bay  almost  useless,  because  of  their 
hostility,  and  all  communication  with  the  Mississippi  valley  was 
forced  to  find  a  channel  by  Lake  Superior  and  the  St.  Croix, 
where  we  find  Le  Sueur,  a  little  later,  endeavoring  to  protect 
even  this  distant  portap  from  hostile  raids.  Perrot  was  doing 
what  he  could  to  hold  the  Ottawas  to  their  allegiance. 

It  was  clear  that  Frontenac  had  no  resources  to  meet  these 
dangers  where  they  lay.  Louis  in  sending  him  to  Canada  uad 
warned  him  that  he  must  do  the  royal  bidding  with  no  further 
help  than  he  could  find  in  the  country,  for  France  had  dangers 
enough  at  home  to  employ  all  her  troops.  It  was  also  apparent 
that  to  paralyze  the  English  support  of  the  Iroquois,  whose 


THE  FOX-WISCONSIN  ROUTE. 


849 


machinations  harl  produced  this  western  difficulty,  these  rivals 
mi,  st  be  kept  busy  at  home.  While  there  was  a  plan  under 
consideration  at  Versailles  to  attack  Boston,  Frontenac  thought 


H 

7 

i 

o 

S 

1 

I 

K-i 

J 

n 

S 

v>' 

p 

t5 

« 

K 

1 

5 

1 

5 

1 

i 

1 

w 

2 

o 

'<r 

n 

H 

^ 

n 

f  I  •% 


that  it  was  left  for  him  to  set  on  foot   .he  expeditions  w^hich  i 
to  the  bloody  work  ;it  Schenectady,  Salmon  Falls,  and  Bloody  work 
Fort  Loyal  >   he  modern  Portland).      In  the  spring-  »**•>«  e^t. 
of  1690,  the  English  at  Albany,    ware  of  the  natural  result  of 
any  Iroouois  dftfer^^ion,  had  wannd  the  Boston  p*overnnient  of 


860 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


what  they  wero  to  expect  along  the  eastern  frontiers.  The  New 
Englanders  on  their  part,  and  at  the  same  time,  sought  to  kocp 
the  attention  of  Frontenac  0.1  the  alert  along  the  St.  Lawrence?, 
ami  so  leave  the  western  question  to  settle  itself,  confident  that 
the  Iroquois  intrigues  were  equal  to  the  task.  When  both  sides 
showed  their  hands,  there  was  enough  to  do  in  the  east. 

The  New  Englanders  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  Nova 
Scotia  coasts,  and  it  had  been  a  frequent  complaint  of  Mculos, 
the  intendant,  that  the  Boston  ^shermen  dared  to  make  the 
Acadian  fisheries  their  own,  wl"le  there  was  hardly  a  pilot  or 
sailor  in  all  Canada.  The  time  ad  come  for  a  firmer  grasp. 
1C90.  sir  The  spring  of  1600  was  a  busy  one'  in  Massachusetts 
S','"*,'"  Bay,  in  fitting  out  the  armauicMit  which  Sir  \Villiani 
KrtRSy.u'i  Phips  led  against  Port  Koyal  (Annapolis),  and  m 
to  Quebec. '  -^^y  \^q  camc  back  in  triumph.  lie  could  now  entov 
upon  the  greater  preparation  for  an  attack  on  Quebec.  At  the 
same  time  a  congress  at  Albany  luul  planned  a  land  attack  by 
Lake  Champlain  under  ritz-,Tohn  Winthrop,  who  was  conuuis- 
sioned  by  Leisler,  on  July  31,  1690.  The  two  expeditions 
were  to  act  in  conjunction,  and  Phips  sailed  from  Boston  with 
thirty-two  vessels  in  August.  Colonel  Church  was  sent  to  tlie 
eastward  along  the  Maine  coast,  to  divert  attention,  and  he 
accomplished  enough  for  this  purpose ;  but  Winthrop's  effort 
was  a  failure  from  the  beginning,  so  that  Phips  approached 
Quebec  with  no  prospect  of  the  expected  cooperation.  Ilis  mis- 
carriage was  worse  than  Winthrop's,  in  that  he  blustered  and 
reti'eated.  Frontenac  put  on  a  bolder  front  than  his  strength 
warranted,  and  Phips  was  deceived.  The  New  England  ships 
straggled  down  the  river,  and  did  little  but  burn,  on  Anticosti 
Island,  the  establishment  with  which  the  government  had  re- 
warded Jnliet  for  his  services  in  discovery.  The  baffled  New 
Englanders  also  managed  later  to  intercept  some  of  the  supply 
ships,  which  Quebec  could  ill  spare,  but  Iberville,  who  was 
returning  with  some  plunder  from  a  renewed  attack  on  the  Eng- 
lish at  Hudson's  Bay,  eluded  the  English  ships  and  escaped  to 
France. 

Phips's  failure  was  every  way  dispiriting.     The  merchants 

of  New  Ei>gland  and  New  York  had  counted  on  his 

jiorth  and      succcss  to  coutvol  the  Indian  trade  of  the  west,  for  tlie 

monopoly  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  diminish- 


LA   HONTAN. 


851 


ing  this  western  trade  too  much  to  make  a  division  of  it  between 
the  French  and  the  English  i)roHtahl(i  to  both.  The  Carolinians 
were  already  opening  the  channels  of  trade  in  the  valley  of  the 
Tennessee.  In  this  same  spring  London  merchants,  trading 
in  these  colonies,  had  urged  %  protest  in  the  Lords  against 
the  Commons  being  allowed  to  give  new  force  to  the  charter 
which  Charles  II.  had  bestowed  upon  the  Ilutlson  Bay  Com- 
pany. They  represented  that,  under  color  of  pushing  the  search 
for  a  northwest  passage,  the  company  was  both  engrossing  the 
trade  of  the  far  west,  and  driving  the  French  to  an  interference 
with  tlio  trade  of  other  English  farther  sbuth,  upon  whose  pros- 
perity that  of  England  depended. 

Frontenac  had  never  shown  himself  more  signally  ecjual  to 
a  trying  emergency  than  when  he  hurried  to  (Quebec  and  defied 
the  English  fleet.  When  he  saw  it  disappear  behind  the  island 
of  Orleans,  he  experienced  a  relief  which  he  could  hardly  have 
anticipated.  His  good  fortune  did  not  consist  in  the  discomfi- 
ture of  Phips  alone.  He  had  succeeded  in  rimning  down  to 
Montreal  the  first  flotilla  of  fur-laden  conoes  which  the  mer- 
chants of  that  town  iiad  seen  for  a  long  time.  There  were  a 
hundred  and  ten  of  these  little  cargoes  of  peltry  io  reanimate 
trade.  Frontenac,  seventy  years  old  as  lie  was,  was  joyful 
enough  to  dance  a  war-dance  with  the  Indian  boatmen. 

In  November,  Frontenac  wrote  out  his  dispatches  upon  his 
success.      He  somewhat  exuberantly  told  the  minis-  ],.,f,o,  no- 
ter  that  if  he  would  take  care  of  the  English  for  tlie  pronteiiac's 
future,  he  could  deal  with  the  Iioquois.     He  sent  his  '''»?'>««'■«'• 
letters  by  a  young  Gascon,  who  had  come  to  Canada  six  or 
seven  years  before,  and  had  made  his  way  into  Frontenac's  favor. 
He  was  an  imaginative,  if  not  audacious,  story-teller. 
La  Hontan  by  name,  and  what  he  claimed  to  have 
seen  in  the  far  west,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  along  a  river  by 
which  one  could  ascend  to  the  mountains,  and  thence  reach  by 
another  stream  the  Pacific,  passed  into  current   belief   some 
years  later,  when  he  published  his  book.     His  story  began  to 
be  doubted  by  1710  ;  but  it  continued  to  have  a  fitful  existence, 
accepted  wholly  by  some,  in  a  qualified  way  by  others,  and  dis- 
carded entirely  by  the  warier,  till  its  last  defenders  disappeared 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century.     The  Long  or  De.'ul 
River,  as  he  calls  it,  —  the  last  name  fitting  its  sluggish  current, 


yurr-- 


■rii^  h 


852 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


^fS, 


f.i" 


CARTE  GETTORALE 


Prt  tanta*tiu 


L.I2VIITE5       'DE  /"^C     A    Tf   A  B 


j«o 


LA  ROMAN'S 


LA   HONTAN'S  MAP. 


853 


B  i 


f^^ 


,f^y 


3=1 


"Will-    b »■ 


Ut 


arac 


3.?g; 


"iiii"'"    I'm 


GRAND     BSTACE    BE    TERRE 
DE  LABRADOR.      OU  DlRS  ESKLMAVX 

SmJr  itj  VtlUj  F]-an^jijtJ  auOifsJtrijt.'  ^Jk 

J^cnt  itj  VtlUptJ  FranrM.1  ni  iVraliij' .,7?.     'T^ 

Jimt  izj  Vila^rj  dt^  .r.uiir^ii^r. "  "i'! 

J(mr  de-J  rlanjrrtj   Sauir%ftJ  jAOtiitx^  ,',.■;  -T-,-^ 

f^^.uj  r^ofturit ...j^ .. ..J..... ]TTrr:, „,,'■•■  a 

^  ant:  dtj  FiUfJ  a.yaurt  iAJ   cAojtj  Je.   ii^ 

C4i£tjrr\/ .:. , . .r. :.*?ir 

Jo-ntdej  '^Moa^ oit.  Zirrv'jy'arie.'  le^r  Cri/ui'^    ~ 
tC  inti.  J\jvLn,ei^e,  a.  Vautfti , ,     4' 


hh   TTLxchoJiMhi. 


■58 


aiJi 


^^o 


33.5 


Canada. 


854 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


—  came  and  went  on  the  maps,  and  was  now  identified  with  this 
or  the  other  stream  of  the  modern  geography  till  the  later  dis- 
coverers fonnd  it  difficult  to  ])lace  it  anywhere. 


H 
'A 


-i      M 


Frontenac  lost  no  time  in  sending  the  tidings  of  his  successes 
to  the  western  tribes,  ho])ing  to  stay  their  defection,  but  the 
defeat  of  Phips  and  the  discouragement  of  Winthrop  had  little 


\^ 


THE  IROQUOIS. 


355 


effect  on  the  Iroquois.  They  still  prowled  and  attacked,  and 
it  was  thought  necessary  to  palisade  the  Jesuit  mission  Ti.e  iroqr.oi8 
at  Mackinac.  »''"  active. 

The  government  in  London  was  little  inclined  to  risk  an- 
other armament  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  November,  1691, 
Phijis  was  in  Loudon  suggesting  it,  but  he  did  not  press  the 
subject. 

The  colonists  were  soon  using  their  influence  to  bring  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Shawnees  into  terms  of  agreement.  The  re- 
sult was  to  relieve  the  confederates  of  an  enmity  which  distracted 
them,  and  it  left  them  freer  to  renew  their  raids  along  the  St. 
Lawrence.  So  it  happened  that  it  was  not  till  1G93 
that  the  French  succeeded  in  getting  through  to  Mon-  ^'^"^' 
treal  another  flotilla  of  canoes,  when  two  hundred  of  them, 
under  escort  of  a  force  which  Frontenac  put  at  the  disposal  of 
Louvigny,  now  the  commandant  at  Mackinac,  relieved  the  store- 
houses at  the  straits,  and  brought  trade  once  more  to  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

There  were  rumors  of  another  attack  on  Quebec  from  Bos- 
ton, to  be  aided  this  time  by  a  naval  contingent  from  En<'laud 
and  h  rontenac  set  vigorously  to  work  to  strengthen  the  defenses 
of  his  cai)ital,  and  kept  the  confederates  occupied  by  new 
irrui)tions  among  them.  Governor  Fletcher,  then  in  authority 
in  iS'ew  York,  had  received  enlarged  powers,  particularly  in 
relation  to  the  militia  of  the  neighboring  colonies,  in  order  that 
ii"  might  command  a  dangerous  force,  if  invasion  was 

>  iAndi.  In  1G94,  the  Iroquois  showed  signs  of  fal- 
tering, Tliey  told  the  English  that  they  must  have  more  active 
help  if  they  were  still  to  press  the  French.  At  the  same  time 
they  sent  a  deputation  to  Quebec.  In  May,  and  again  in  Sep- 
tember, they  urged  their  diplomacy  with  Frontenac,  but  he  was 
firm  ill  his  rejection  of  any  offer  that  did  not  include  the  west- 
ern allies  of  the  French,  and  which  did  include  the  English. 
The  Iroquois  were;  not  quite  ready  to  abandon  their  white 
neighboi  s,  or  for<'go  their  hoy*  of  eating  the  Illinois,  as  they 
always  e>  pressed  it.     So  liie  iiegotiati<»ns  failed. 

Frontenac's  sense  of  duty  toward«  tnese  western  allies  was 
not  acceptable  either  to  the  liiMhoj)  or  tr>  tJie  home  government. 
It  meant  too  much  interfen»iif .  with  plans,  to  please  the  Jes- 
uits, and  the  king  was  easily  persua4ed  by  that  body.    When 


356 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


Frontenao 
and  t]ie 
westoia 
tribeti. 


Louis  tried,  a  little  later,  to  force  Fronteiiac  to  make  terms  with 
the  Iroquois  on  conditions  that  broke  faith  with  the 
western  tribes,  the  coui-age  and  obstinacy  of  the  gov- 
ernor were  put  to  the  test,  but  he  carried  his  point. 
He  knew  there  was  one,  in  his  ardent  lieutenant  on  the  Illinois, 
who  was  ready  to  make  a  new  effort  for  the  occupation  of  the 
Mississippi.  Tonty  hoped  for  an  attack  on  Mexico  from  such 
a  base  ;  he  hoped  to  develop  the  lead  mines  and  augment  the 
trade  in  peltries  ;  and  above  all,  he  hoped  in  this  way  to  prevent 
the  threatening  advent  of  the  English.  It  was  to  warn  the 
government  of  this  danger  that  Le  Sueur  went  to  Paris  the 
next  year  (1695).  This  adventurer  was  now  given  a  trade 
monopoly  for  ten  years  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  to  make  good 
the  French  hold  on  that  part  of  it ;  but  the  English  captured 
him  on  his  way  back. 

With  the  return  flotilla  in  September,  1694,  Frontenac  sent 

La  Mothe   Cadillac  to  govern  at  Mackinac  and  be- 

Moti'iG  at       yond.     This  lieutenant  soon  informed  Frontenao  that 

Mackinac.         ,«  -i     ^       r\  i  •    •  fin 

he  iou5ul  the  Uttawas  despau'mg  ot  the  1^  rench  protec- 
tion, as  the  governor  was  too  well  aware  that  they  must  be,  con- 
sidering what  kind  of  lessons  the  Jesuit  spirit  was  inculcating. 
That  licpior  was  no  longer  sold  to  them  was  one  of  the  enforced 
deprivations  which  the  Indians  laid  to  the  Jesuits.  If  this 
deprivation  had  in  many  ways  proved  salutary,  Cadillac  saw 

The  English  ^^''"^^  ^^  ^'^'^  ^^^^  ^  ^''^^  cffcct  ou  Frcuch  domination, 
since  it  induced  communication  with  the  English, 
where  the  savages  had  little  difficulty  in  obtaining 
what  they  desired.  This  longing  for  liquor  was  always  strong 
enough  to  counteract  the  purposes  of  the  French  trader,  who 
aimed  to  keep  the  Indian  sufficiently  in  his  debt  to  leave  him 
little  occasion  to  seek  the  English  for  trade.  Conununication 
with  these  rivals  of  the  French  could  only  mean  a  weakening 
of  their  allegiance,  and  there  was  enough  of  it  to  cause  no  small 
disquiet  to  Cadillac.  This  officer  soon  found  that  the  mo.st 
stubborn  pagan  would  receive  any  amount  of  baptism  for 
an  equal  amount  of  brandy,  and  would  make  little  distinction 
between  brandy  with  and  without  the  sai;red  rites. 

Cadillac  soon  informed  Frontenac^  that  there  could  be  no 
peace  Avith  the  Iroquois  till  the  English  wore  eliminated  from 
the  pvoblem,  and  there  was  no  effectual  way  of  doing  it  but 


and  the 
liciuor  traf- 
fic. 


CADILLAC. 


357 


to  capture  and  hold  the  English  posts  at  Albany  and  New 
York. 


[From  La  Hontan's  Kouveaui.  Voyages.'] 


Cadillac,  in  his  fort  at  Mackinac,  —  it  had  a  garrison  of  two 
hundred  men, —was  in  every  way  situated  to  know  the  conditions 
of  the  probiom.     His  was  an  active  mind,  and  it  mattered  little 


358 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


:     V  -  ■ . 


fl 


iih 


f 


I  '  ii 


I 


THE   LARGER 


HENNEPIN'S  MAP. 


859 


"7J- 


,er  « 


.>:^;i 


D   i 


HENNEPIN    MAP,   IG'JT 


860 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


Perrot  and 
Le  Sueur. 


to  him  whether  he  had  the  mischievous  Huron  or  the  ungodly 
bushranger  to  control.  He  liked  most  to  thwart  the  Jesuits, 
Mackiuoo  ^^^  ^^^^  purposcs  Were  aU  that  Frontenac  could  wish 
P°**'  in  this  respect.     A  pistol-shot  away  from  the  French 

post  at  Mackinac  there  was  a  permanent  Indian  village  of 
six  or  seven  thousand  souls ;  and  not  a  tribe  of  the  northwest 
but  had  all  the  time  more  or  less  straggling  representatives 
hanging  about  the  spot.  The  little  place  had  some  attractions 
for  wide-eyed  wonder.  It  was  as  fine  a  village  as  there  was  in 
Canada,  as  Cadillac  desc  sit,  with  its  sixty  houses  in  a 
straight  street,  and  the  land,  which  the  Indians  cultivated  for 
supplying  the  settlement  with  corn,  cleared  for  three  leagues 
around. 

Frontenac,  in  forcing  his  policy,  had  other  steadfast  abettors 
in  the  west  beside  Cadillac.  Perrot  was  a  man  to  be 
trusted.  The  Sieur  Jiichereau  was  starting  the  first 
industry  on  the  Mississijipi  in  a  tannery  at  'A\g  mouth  of  the 
Ohio.  Le  Sueur  was  building  forts  on  the  upper  Mississippi 
to  hold  all  hostile  tribes  in  check.  It  was  he  who,  in  1G95, 
took  the  first  Sioux  to  Montreal  that  had  been  seen  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  —  a  chief,  who  did  not  survive  the  winter  in  his 
unwonted  environment.  That  same  year,  as  we  have  seen,  this 
trader  went  to  France  to  get  new  jjrivileges. 

In  1696,  Frontenac  was  ready  once  more  to  try,  on  the  ^lo- 
j(;(,(5  hawk,  to  settle  this  vexed  question  of  the  west.    Early 

IfttackTuw  "^  *^^  summer,  the  Iroquois  wei-e  again  making  trouble, 
Iroquois.  j^j^jj  ^Q  governor  determined  to  deliver  a  heavy  blow. 
He  had  recently  received  three  hundred  soldiers  from  Franco, 
and  he  sent  a  party  to  put  Fort  Frontenac  in  repair.  He  made 
the  work  move  briskly  for  fear  his  intention  would  be  checked 
by  orders  to  desist.  The  confederates  took  the  movement  as  a 
menace,  and  moved  as  rapidly.  Early  in  July  (1696),  Fron- 
tenac was  ready,  and  left  Montreal  with  twenty-two  hundred 
men.  He  went  to  Cataraqui,  and  then,  crossing  to  Oswego,  was 
at  Lake  Onondaga  on  the  1st  of  August.  Here  he  saw  the 
light  of  the  village,  which  the  Onondagas  were  burning  as 
they  retired  before  the  French  advance.  A  detachment  was 
sent  to  destroy  an  Oneida  town,  while  the  main  body  did  all  the 
mischief  they  hurriedly  could.  This  end  accomplished,  tlicy 
were  off  for  Fort  Frontenac  before  the  English  at  Albany  knew 


PEACE  OF  RYSWICK. 


361 


what  had  happened.  The  occurrence  readily  suggested  argu- 
men  s  to  those  who  were  at  this  time  urging,  in  the  Board  of 
Irade  at  London,  that  the  English  power  should  be  centralized 
m  a  captain-general ;  and  it  gave  force  to  the  demand  of  Wil- 
hamlennthatthe  English  colonies  could  more  effectively  act 
It  they  only  had  an  annual  congress. 

It  seemed,  for  a  while,  as  if  the  vigor  of  Frontenac's  cam-" 

paign  had  unnerved  the  Iroquois.     The  English  sent  corn  to 

their  desolated  villages,  but  it  did  not  prevent  the  ^,  ,       . 

confederates  sending  messengers  to  Quebec  to  pro-  -•'''or'^'"'" 

pose  a  peace.     Their  incessant  wars  had  told  on  their  ««"efuMd. 

strength,  notwithstanding  their  custom  of  adopting  prisoners 

J^letcher,  the  English  governor,  reckoned  that  they  had  been 

reduced  from  twenty-five  hundred  warriors  to  T  -ss  than  thir 

teen  hundred,  and  that  they  numbered  perhaps  fifteen  thousand 

souls  m  all.     They  had  not,  however,  been  reduced   enou-h 

to  abandon  their  old  grudge  against  the  western  Indians,  and 

irontenac  was  not  disposed  to  listen,  unless  they  would  include 

ni  their  peace  the  Ottawas  and  the  other  distant  allies  of  the 

French.     The  Iroquois  would  not  yield,  and  the  negotiations 

fell  throuo-li.  ° 

The  French  were  now  seriously  considering  an   attack  on 
Boston,  and  we  have  the   plans  which  were   made  for  them 
(January,  1697)  and  put  in  shape  by  tlieiv  cartographer,  Fran- 
quelin,  to  guide  them  up  the  harbor  of  that  New  England  town  • 
but  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  in  the  autumn  (September  ,(.97   v.l 
30,  1G97),  prevented  action  and  brought  a  five  years'  of  RWick.* 
truce  with  the  English,  and  stayed  the  latter's  purpose  of  seiz- 
ing  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi.     The  news  of  the   treaty 
reached  New  York  before  it  came  to  Quebec,  and  Frontenac 
heard  of  it  from  this  source  in  February,  1698 ;  while  jcgg  ^nown 
no  confirmation  came  from  his  own  government  till  '"Caimdar" 
July.     This  delay  illustrated  anew  the  disadvantages  of  an  ice- 
bound river,  and  brought  a  fresh  reminder  of  the  desirableness 
of  a  more  salubrious  ingress  to  Canada.     The  Quebec  govern- 
ment had  long  been  aware  of  the  maritime  supremacy  which 
the  open  seaboard  of  the  English  colonies  gave  to  their  rivals, 
and  the  English  government  had  of  late  begun  the  construction 
of  ships  of  war  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  "Falkland,"  a  frig- 
ate of  fifty-four  guns,  having  just  been  finished  at  Portsmouth. 
This  act  was  of  itself  ominous. 


8G2 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


w 


jH' 

^ 

1 

^^^H^HI 

1 

^^Ht 

1 

FRONTENACrS  DEATH.  868 

Lord  IJeUomont  was  now  in  command  in  New  York  He 
iiad  arrived  April  2,  lG98,and  l.i.s  authority  covered  al.>  Ma.s,sa- 
ImsettsanuNew  Il.mpshire.  He  soon  undertook  to  ;  mno, 
an  exehan<^n  of  prisonf-s  witl,  Frontenac,  and  demanded  the 
return  of  suine  -u.  "  .,m  the  French  had  taken.  To  have 
acceded  would  u  in  .n  to  recognize  the  English  sovereignty 
over  those  ronfederat.  .,  and  Frontenac  was  too  wary  to  be 
<augh<^      As  the  summer  went  on,  Iseiiomont  (Aucust   . 

-;  g         a  more  torcible  expression  of  the  English  "'"""">,"' 
position  in  a  warning  to  Frontenac  that  if  the  French  **«""^-  *™"" 
attempted  another  invasion  of  the  Iroquois  country  he  was  pre- 
pared  to  resist  it.     Frontenac  received  the  intimation  in  his 
usual  defiant  si)irit. 

A  man  of  sevent  even,  as  Frontenac  now  was,  with  all  his 
rugged  and  blunt  u,  termination  rendered  bolder  by  a  sort  of 
barbarous  pride,  had  not  lived  a  life  of  turmoil  without  some 


rgjtn 


CHATEAU  DE  ST.   LOUIS,   1098. 
[From  Suite's  Canudiens-Franfais,  vii.] 


iTp^ 


inroads  upon   a  naturally  robust  constitution.     In  December, 
word  came  to  Boston  fiom  Champigny,  his  associate  in  the  gov- 
ernment,  that  the  old  soldier  had  at  last  succumbed,  on 
the  25th  of  November  (1G98).     A  frozen  river  had  ^fV™" 
again  brought  the  necessity  of  communicating  with  *""^'"''" 
France  through   a  rival   province.      Champigny's   messenger, 
Vincelot,  sailed  for  Europe  from  Boston  ;  but  another  messen- 
ger  reached  Paris  a  few  hours  ahead.     This  was  Courtemanche, 
whom  Callieres   had  secretly  dispatched   ahead   of   Vincelot. 
This  other  messenger  had  ascended  the  Sorel,  and  rea-  i.ed  New 
York  by  the  Hudson.     His  earlier  appearance  in  I'aris  very  ■ 
likely  helped  assure  the  appointment  of  Callieres  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Frontenac. 

The  death  of  Frontenac  left  France  with  many  difficult  prob- 
lems yet  unsolved.      Notwithstanding   the  exclusive 
trade  which  the  government  preserved  to  itself  at  Ta-  Ktrl"*" 
doussac  and  elsewhere,  Canada  had  not  been  able  to  ^'^'^' 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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ij. 


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I.I 


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1.4    IIIIII.6 


Photographic 

Sciences 

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864 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


yield  a  revenue  equal 
to  the  charges.  The 
Enjilish  and  the  Iro- 
quois  were  a  constant 
danger  to  the  French 
occupation  of  the 
great  valleys.  The  Iro- 
quois still  hovered 
along  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  both  they 
and  their  English  al- 
lies were  feared  on  the 
Mississippi.  Adven- 
turous traders  were  al- 
ready crossing  the  Al- 
leghanies  from  the  sea- 
board colonies,  and 
their  huts  were  becom- 
ing permanently  fixed 
along  the  Ohio.  The 
government  at  Paris, 
aware  of  this,  and  hav- 
ing no  occasion  of  their 
own  as  yet  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  region 
towards  which  these 
English  were  heading, 
felt  the  necessity  of 
occupying  the  great 
valley  of  the  west, 
merely  to  keep  their 
rivals  out.  An  expe- 
dition under  Montigny 
and  St.  Cosme  had 
started  along  Lake 
Michigan  in  the  later  months  of  1698.  It  was  the  advance  of 
the  church  to  make  grood  the  prophecy  of  Marquette. 

1693-1700.  X       1  ./  A 

Montignyi  They  passcd  up  the  western  shores  of  that  lake ; 
Tonty,  '  they  stopped  at  Melwarik  (Milwaukee)  ;  they  crossed 
La  Sueur.      the   Chicago   portage   early   in    November,   and    on 


FRONTENAC. 


[From  the  Frontenac  Statue  at  Quebec] 


CALLTERES. 


365 


on 


December  6  they  reached  the  Mississippi.     They  had  picked 
up  Tonty  a    his  post,  and  he  guided  them  on  as  far  a7  he 
Arkansas,  when  he  was  obliged  to  return.     The  missionaries,   n 
their  nari-ative,  speak  of  this  old  companion  of  La  Salle  as  the 
man  who  best  knew  the  country,  where  he  was  both     td  ul 
feared  by  all  the  tribes.    The  next  year  (1700),  Father  Gravi  r 
made  his  descent  o   the  Mississippi  for  the  same  purpose,  and  we 
have  his  add!  lonal  account  of  experiences  along  its  com;e.    We 
earn  from  hmi  howthe  English  forerunners  wx.  active  alon' 
the  hues  of  the  Tennessee,  where  some  scattering  Mohegans,  rem- 
nants  probably  of  those  outcasts  from  New  England ^hom  La 
fealle  hau  found  so  serviceable,  were  trading  with  adventurers 
from  over  the  Api>alachians.    On  the  lower  Mississippi,  Gravie 
reports  findrng  English  guns  in  the  hands  of  the  sava,ges      I 
IS  eviden  tthatGravier  was  by  no  means  sure  that  these  English 
were  destined  to  be  seriously  opposed.     "  I  do  not  know  what 
our  court  wiU  decide  about  the  Mississippi,"  he  says,  "  if  no 
silver  mines  a:;e  found,  for  our  governmenV  does  not  s  ek  and 
to  cultivate.     They  care  very  little  for  mines  of  lead,  which  a  e 
very  abundant  near  the  Illinois."   The  previous  year  (1699 
Le  Sueur  had  passed  up  the  Mississippi  from  its  mouth,  i 
charge  of  a  band  of  miners.  ' 

The  friendship  of  the  Iroquois  was  still  the  key  to  the  situa- 
tion between  the  English  and  the  French,  not  ^nly  along  tTe 
St.  Lawrence,  but  at  the  remotest  western  posts  Tovfards 
the  close  of  Frontenac's  life,  the  colonists  on  the  Hudson  were 
renewing  their  efforts  to  make  it  appear  by  deposit  o  and 
memorial  that  they  held  the  confederates  as  'J^T  ' 

of  the  English  crown.  Caliieres,  while  yet  in  tempo-  ^tl^ 
rary  authority  by  the  death  of  Frontenac,  and  before  '"''""^■ 
he  was  confirmed  in  his  power,  had.  assumed  the  same  air  of 

Taf  Wne      H       r  f  ™'  *'^"  ^^^^^^^«  "^^^  ^-"tenac 
had  bo.ne.     He  refused  to  entertain  any  proposition  for  the 

exehange  o  prisoners  which  could  be  thought  to  constitute 
^e  slightesfc  recognition  of  their  dependence' on  the  English 
Wilham  III.  had  sent  orders  to  Bellomont  to  unite  with  the 
powers  m  Canada  m  making  the  Iroquois  keep  a  peace  Cal' 
icres  revealed  this  fact  to  the  confederates,  and  in  July,  1700 
they  thought  It  prudent  to  send  mesengers  to  Quebec.  Bello- 
mont, on  his  part,  tried  to  prevent  any  pact  of  the  tribes  Si 


366 


FRONTENAC  RECALLED. 


teiiiber  S. 
Pence  with 
tlie  Iroquoia, 


1099-1700, 
Detroit. 


the  French,  and  the  Iroquois  determined  to  treat  with  the 
French  first  and  with  the  English  next.  The  Onondagas  even 
1700,  Sep.  seemed  inclined  to  break  with  the  English,  and  on 
September  8,  1700,  Callieres  concluded  a  treaty  with 
the  Iroquois  deputies  at  Montreal,  by  which  the  con- 
federates, the  Ilurons,  the  Ottawas,  and  the  Abenakis  were  em- 
braced in  the  terms  of  peace. 

Meanwhile,  the  French  and  English  were  scheming  to  attain 
a  position  at  Detroit.  Robert  Livingston  had  urged 
liellomont  to  take  possession  of  that  point,  and  secure 
control  through  it  of  the  Miamis,  Illinois,  and  Shawnees.  It 
was  hoped  in  this  way  to  keep  the  Iroquois  in  subjection  to  the 
purposes  of  the  authorities  at  Albany,  by  making  them  friends 
of  the  more  distant  tribes,  and  so  to  secure  their  trade.  The 
English  plan  was  delayed,  and  this  hesitation  gave  Callieres  his 
o])portunity.  After  he  had  made  his  treaty  at  Montreal,  he 
planned  to  occupy  Detroit,  and  in  order  not  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  Iroquois,  his  purpose  was  to  let  Cadillac  and 
Tonty  approach  it  from  the  side  of  liake  Huron,  and  begin  a 
fort  there.  It  was  Cadillac's  notion  to  make  it  the  chief  west- 
ern post  for  trade,  and  to  discontinue  the  establishments  at 
Mackinac  and  other  points  on  the  upper  lakes.  This  plan  raised 
great  opposition  both  in  Montreal  and  Mackinac,  r^s  tending  to 
destroy  or  weaken  their  business  prospects.  The  Jesuits,  too, 
were  aroused  because  Cadillac  intimated  a  preference  for  Re- 
collects in  the  missionary  work,  and  had  proposed  to  instruct 
the  tribes  in  French,  thereby  diminishing  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuit  interpreters. 

To  push  his  views,  Cadillac  went  in  the  autumn  of  1700  to 
France,  to  urge  the  scheme  upon  the  Comte  de  Maurepas.  lie 
succeeded  in  bringing  Pontchartrain  over  to  his  interests,  and 
the  way  was  opened  to  other  movements,  which  took  the  active 
interest  of  France  from  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lakes  to  the 
mouths  of  the  Mississippi.  This  is  another  theme,  beyond  the 
scope  of  the  present  book. 


"1 


INDEX. 


Abenaki  Indians,  1.j9,  288. 
Aciwliii,  l)ouii(ls  of,  128,  l;i8. 
Acciiult  ill  charge  of  an  expedition,  267. 
-ii-i,  2((),  277.  ' 

Agnese,  liaptista,  his  maps,  50,  50,  03. 
Ag-ona,  St).  ' 

Agranionte,  11. 

Akanisea,  243. 

Albanel,  198,  231. 

Albany,  147,  100. 

Alexanaer,  Sir  William,  and  Nova  Seo- 
ti.a,  l.j ;  ]„s  Lncourayement  to  Colo- 
nies,  12  (;  h-s  grants,  127;  his  Knights- 
Baronets,  127  ;  his  map,  12S ;  and  the 
attack  on  Quebec,  132;  authorized  to 
trade  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  13.};  his 
charter  of  Canada,  l;JO,  137;  vacated, 

A2gonquins,  33,  95,  115;  enemies  of  the 

Iroquois,  8.). 
Allefonsce  Jean,  40,  41 ;  his  maps,  42, 

4o,  oO;  Cojmographie,  .2,  44,  m  ;  Les 

Voyages,  ;)0. 
Alleghany  Mountains,  10. 
Allouez,   Father,  goes    west,   198 ;    at 

Green  Bay,  200,  230;    at  the  Sault, 

iv    I  .f 'W'"*'*''^    ^""''^y   visits  to   the 
West  22  I;  among  the  Blinois,  2.'30; 
and  La  Salle,  2(i(i,  290,  323. 
Amazon  Uiver,  10. 
Amyar  de  Chastes,  80,  83,  88. 
Andastes,  ll.->,  117,  12i,  25.5. 
Andr^,  Louia,  202,  205. 
Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  governor,  34-> 
Aiigouleme,  Lake  of,  31. 
Anian,  Straits  of,  2S(). 
Anticosti  Island,  20- 2S,  51. 
Appalachee  Bay,  312. 
Appalachian  Mountains,  ''O? 
Argall,  Samuel,  11.3. 
Argeiison,  Vicomte  d',  17S. 
Arkansas  Indians,  242,  2!)2   ''97 
Arkansas  River,  151,  242  "'91   3-^2 
Asiatic  theory  of  America,"},  8,  21   73 
Assiniboines,  273.  ' 

Assumption  Island.    See  Anticosti. 
Atchafalaya  Bay,  312. 
Athabasca,  Lake,  151. 


Aubert,  Thomas,  in  the  St.  Lawrence, 


10, 

Auguada,  Baye  d',  13. 
Avalon,  134. 
Avangoi" 


Dubois  d',  189. 

Baccalaos,  38. 
Balboa,  4,  10. 

Baltimore,  Lord,  at  Avalon,  1.34. 
Bandelier  on  the  fate  of  La  Sa'.le's  col- 
onists, 324. 

Basques  on  the  Newfoundland  coasts,  9, 
2.),  J  24. 

Batts,  Captain  Thomas,  203. 

i,"  '  ''^•<"'"-7"'if'rde,  304,  320. 

B:  :,  of  Chaleur,  20. 

Bazire  Kivor,  242. 

Beaujeu    commands   La  Salle's    fleet, 

Beauport,  149,  ho. 

Beauprt?,  39. 

Beauvais,  Sieur  de,  300. 

Belleforest,  323. 

Belle  Isle,  Straits  of,  20. 

1-ellero's  map,  02. 

Bellomont,  Earl  of,  303.  365, 

Bering's  Straits,  2S(),  283. 

Bernon,  Abb^,  287. 

Bettencowt  7>.,co6.  dos  Portuguezes,  12. 

Beverly,  Robert,  Virginia,  230. 

Bimim,  15. 

Black  River,  270 

Blaeu,  Atlas  100, 181 ;  his  map  of  North 
America,  182. 

Blanc  Sablon,  28. 

Block,  Adrian,  112. 

Blome,  America,  347. 

Bois  Bruld  River,  274. 

Bolt,  Captain,  203. 

Boston  harbor,  91    124;  French  plan  to 

attack,  ,J49  301 ;  maps,  301. 
Botero,  00  ;  Relaciones,  88. 
Boucher,  Canada,  187. 
Boull.^,  Eiistaehe,  130. 
Boidl^,  Nicolas,  100. 
BouriiK^t,  J.  G.,  on  Cartier,  2(5. 
Bradford,  governor  of  Plymouth,  174 


368 


INDEX. 


Uradttro  Bay,  11. 

Br^iud,  Murine  Normande,  10,  75. 

Bi(5bouf,  Jean   du,  J2i>,   145,  148,  150, 

J5S;   killi'd,  172;  bust,  17-'. 
Bressaiii,  Kil. 
BrtttoiiH  on  the  Newfoundland  banks,  23, 

74. 
Bre\'oort,  J.  C,  17. 
Brul6,  Etienne,  100,  110,  117,  119;  his 

adventures,  121. 
Buade.     See  Frontenac. 
Buade,  Lake,  27(i. 
Buffaloes,  237,  20."..  270,  2-2,  270,  200, 

;!i;>,  320,   321;  Hennepin'    drawing, 

2.V,». 
Bmel,  Gilbert,  120. 
Buteux,  147,  14S. 
Butteriield,  C.  W.,  223. 
Byrd,  Colonel,  230. 

Cabot,  John,  his  Landfall,  r)4;  discov- 
eries, 1,  0;   niiippemonde,  14,  02,  53. 

Cadillac,  257  ;  at  Mackinac,  350. 

Caen,  Eineric  dc,  134,  138. 

Caen,  Guill.aunie  de,  124. 

California,  considered  an  island,  127 ; 
130;  Gulf  of,  130,  151. 

Calli^ros,  ;].'!7  ;  siu-cofids  Frontenac,  .3()5. 

Calvert  (Lord  Baltinnne)  at  Ferryland, 

Calvinista  in  Can.ada,  120;  excluded, 
130. 

'Janada,  population,  147,  100,  195,  230, 
253,  208,  343  ;  fur  trade,  147  ;  coloni- 
zation of,  compared  with  New  Eng- 
land, 147,  14S;  earliest  records  of, 
14S;  seigneuries,  149;  earliest  cen- 
sus. 187;  restored  to  the  crown,  VM); 
soldiers  iind  settlers  arrive,  101  ;  in- 
tendant  and  governor,  101 ;  peace, 
194;  Duv.al's  map,  216;  immigra- 
tion falling  off,  254 ;  tr.odv'  decreas- 
ing, 29S  ;  claims  of  tlie  Hundred  As- 
sociates, 301 ;  Company  of  the  North,, 
301.     See  New  France. 

Canerio  Map,  1,  3. 

Cape  Bonavista,  "^o. 

Cape  Breton,  20,  50,  53,  54. 

Cape  Race,  30. 

Cape  l{ouge,39,  41,  42. 

Capitanal,  14(5. 

Capuchins,  139. 

Carignan-Saliferes  regiments,  191. 

Carlcill,  Eiitended  Voi/affe,  75. 

Carolina,  traders,  242,  351. 

Carpunt,  39. 

Carr,  Colonel,  190. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  finds  melons  and  cu- 
cumbers, 14  ;  commissioned  by  Fran- 
cis I.,  IS  ;  his  purpose,  22  ;  his  careei, 
iJ3 ;  sources,  23,  27,  52,  57 ;  his  first 
voyage,  24 ;  second  voyage,  28, 51,  G2  ; 


near  Quebec,  20 ;  monument  to,  30 ; 
portrait,  30,  45 ;  abandons  a  ship, 
30;  Jlref  IWfit,  30-.j8  ;  printed,  52, 
57  ;  third  voyage;,  38 ;  connection  with 
Koberval,  40 ;  in  St.  Malo,  45 ;  his 
manor  house,  4(i ;  death,  47 ;  results 
of  his  explorations,  48 ;  his  maps  and 
their  influenco,  50,  73 ;  iJiscoiirs  ilu 
Voi/<iye,  58 ;  Relation  Originate,  58  ; 
his  lost  maps,  58  ;  his  heirs,  75  ;  his 
kidnapping  of  Indians,  75;  liis  fort 
found  by  Champluin,  U4 ;  had  mass 
said,  1 1 5. 

Cathay,  i8ea  of,  42. 

Cavelier.     See  La  Salle. 

Cavelier,  Pire,  310,  320,  321. 

(^ayuga  Creek,  258. 

("ayugas,  raiding,  305.     See  Iroquois. 

Cazot,  247. 

Ceriani,  Abb^,  18. 

C;habot,  Admiral,  18,  23. 

Chambly,  85. 

Champignj',  303. 

Chanq)lain,  Samuel  de,  his  youth,  80 ; 
his  portrait.  81 ;  was  he  originally 
Protestant?  80;  later  Catholic,  82; 
in  Spain,  82  ;  in  the  West  Indies,  82 ; 
goes  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  83 ;  his 
character,  83;  goes  \i[>  the  Sague- 
nay,  84 ;  hears  of  western  waters, 
85,  80,  100,  193;  Sauvuges,  80,  88; 
his  first  map,  88 ;  eager  for  explora- 
tion of  tile  St.  Lawrence  valley,  89 ; 
on  the  Nova  Scotia  and  New  England 
coast,  89,  SM);  at  Boston  harbor,  91, 
103;  lieutenant-governor  of  Canada, 
9.') ;  to  find  a  way  to  China,  93 ; 
found.H  Quebec,  94;  overcomes  con- 
spirators, 94 ;  attacks  the  Iroquois, 
95,  99  ;  licscarbot's  award,  98 ;  picks 
out  a  wife,  100;  engages  in  the  fur 
trade,  1(K),  101 ;  his  maps  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  Gulf  ,ind  River,  and  the 
Great  Lakes,  102-107;  receives  a  new 
commissii  u,  1'":  on  the  Ottawa 
with  Vignau,  1  his  astrolabe.  111 ; 
his  descriptions,  1 13  ;  in  France,  1 14 ; 
introduces  missions  into  Canada,  114; 
sends  over  Recollects,  1 14 ;  again  at- 
tacks the  Iroquois,  110;  wounded, 
118;  winters  with  the  Hurons,  120; 
in  France,  120 ;  prints  a  new  book 
(1019),  122;  in  Quebec  (1021),  123; 
a  new  company  formed,  124;  m.ar- 
riage,  12(>;  once  more  in  Fr.ance 
(1024),  120;  in  Quebec,  130;  siirren- 
ders  Quebec,  134;  in  London,  l^lt) ; 
in  Paris,  137  ;  his  .Inal  m*.  rative,  VVX 
140 ;  his  large  map.  142-144  ;  his  map 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf,  140 ;  re- 
conniiissioned  and  again  governor, 
144;    and  Richelieu,   140,   153;    his 


TI 


INDEX. 


idea  of  Fronch  colonization,  148;  at 

?m  ^^r.,'"''  ^^*^'  I'Js  last  council, 
14l»;  and  Nicolet,  14l>,  153;  lua  l,u,t 
letter  l.>;5;  his  death,  153;  burial, 
loo  ;  hiH  loniains,  loo. 

Chaniplain,  Lake,  37,  98 ;  its  position 
misconceived,  100;  map,  34(!. 

Charles  I.  (England),  his  marriage,  137  • 
demands  for  a  dower,  137. 

Charles  V.,  74. 

Charles  IX.,  74. 

('harlesbourg',  39. 

Charton,  E.,  75. 

Charton,  Frangois,  129. 

Chastcs.    See  Amyar. 

Chaiidi^re  River,  91. 

Cjiaulnier,  Nouveau  Monde,  139. 

Chautauqua,  Lake,  22.{. 

Chanvin,  77,  78,  80,  !)S. 

Chaves,  Alonso  de,  his  chart,  48. 
Ciiesapeake  Bay,  124,  1!)!). 

^'•So^'"  P"'*''^'®'  ^'  ^43,  244,  248,  249, 

Chickasaw  bluff,  291. 

Chippewiis,  198. 

Choctaws,  32(). 

Chomedy,  Paul  de.    See  Maisonneuve. 

CJiouart.     See  Gro.sseilliers. 

Church,  Colonel  Benjamin,  350. 


869 


Clamorgau,  Jean  de,  51. 

^^K^i  ^".'f''^  ^-^-^  "^'  224;  on  La 
n.'ille,  .J  1 7. 

Clayton,  229. 

Colbert,  189;  portrait,  190;  and  west- 
em  exploration,  231 ;  wishes  inp-ess 
to  Canada  m  a  milder  climate,  254  : 
resigns,  298. 

Colbert  Kiver.     .See  Mississippi. 
3,n';"'.>o'!'^'*'*''^"'^*''"'  -^'^«  Nations,  90, 

Colonists,     English,     compared     with 

i>  rench,  343. 
Colorado  River,  151,  240. 
Columbia  River,  151,  240. 
Columbus's  second  voyage,   3 ;    fourth 
voyage,  4 ;  doubts  the  Asiatic  theory, 
4 ;  belief  as  to  South  America,  IG. 
Comanches,  320. 
Company  of  the  West,  190, 191. 
Condd,  Prince  de,  103. 
Conibas,  Lake,  (i7. 
Conjugon,  Cap  de,  75. 
(Vmnecticut  cliarter,  203. 
Cimneeticut  River,  34(5. 

^'".i;i?f''Jro^*"'*'^*'  ^^;  "^es,  122, 199, 

Coppo'smap,  10,  17. 
Cortereals,  0,  7,  10,  280. 
Cortes,  10,  21. 
Cosa,  La,  map,  2,  3. 
Couillard,  Henri,  93. 
Couillard,  Madame,  126. 


Coulombier,  80. 

Courcelles,  Sieur  de,  191;  attacks  the 

Alohawks,  194. 
Coureuiu   de  bois,   199;  relations  with 

J^roiitenac,  253  ;  with  DenonviUe,  330 
Courtemancho,  303. 
Couture,  109,  323,  338. 
Coxe,  Daniel,  Caroluna,  183,  312 
Crawford,  Earl  of,  50. 
Creuxius,  Ili.stoiredu  Canada,  139  181  • 

map,  184,  J85.  '        ' 

Cudragmy,  30. 
Cumberland  River,  291. 
Cunat  on  Cartier,  23. 


Dablon,  lielation,  198,  247 ;  his  mission, 
199;  at  the  Sault,  205,220;  returns 

tfi;t,^"4r24T'''^'"'^*""'''-^="" 

Dacotahs,  151 ;  their  tong-ue,  ISO.     See 

OlOUX. 

Daniel,  Jesuit,  145,  150. 

Daumont.     See  St.  Lusson. 

Dantraj,  292. 

Dauversi^re,  105. 

D'Avezac  on  Cartier,  23. 

Davost,  Jesuit,  145. 

Dawson,  Sir  William,  33. 

Dead  River,  351. 

Deane,  Charies,  69;  on  the  Cabot  map, 

De  Bry,  07. 

De  Caze  on  Cartier,  30. 

De  Costa  on  Cartier,  23,  26. 

Dee,  Dr.  John,  his  map,  70,  71. 

Deguerre,  229. 

Delaware  River,  140. 

Denonville,  Governor,  .328 ;  his  instruc- 
tions, .•,29;  m  forces,  334;  tortures 
tlie  Iroquois,  334 ;  attacks  the  Sene- 
cas,  33() ;  plan  of  march.  330,  339  • 
accounts  of  his  expedition,  338 ;  re- 
sults of  it,  341 ;  anxious  about  the 
west,  342. 

De  Noue,  139. 

Denys,  Jean,  his  alleged  map,  9,  10. 

Denner    on    the   New  England  coast, 

Deseelier's  map,  14.  54,  55. 

Desimoiii  on  the  Verrazanc  voyage,  18. 

De  Soto,  295. 

Des  Plaines  River,  243. 

Detroit  occupied  by  the  French,  360. 

Detroit  River,  330. 

De  Vries,  280. 

Dieppe,  80 ;  writers,  10. 

Dionne  on  Cartier,  23,  30. 

Divine  River,  243. 

D'Olbeau,  Jean,  114,  115. 

Dollier  de  Casson,  213  ;  on  Lake  Erie, 

Dongan,    Thomas,   governor    of    New 


370 


INDEX. 


York,  no.') ;  relations  with  the  Iro- 
(luois,  327  ;  how  loukutl  upon  hy  the 
French,  li^l^,  o-".) ;  his  methods,  321) ; 
his  anxiety,  341 ;  recalled,  341. 

Donnacona,  2!),  30 ;  seized,  3.J-37  ;  dies, 
31>. 

Donay,  310,  .320,  321. 

Doyle,  ruritan  Colonies,  173. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  and  the  Straits  of 
Aniiin,  2.S(». 

Druillettes,  183  ;  sent  to  Boston,  173  ; 
to  Plymouth,  174  ;  with  St.  Lusson, 
20."). 

T)uchesneau  arrives,  2")4;  charges 
ajfainHt  Frontenac,  2".)',);  wishes  the 
purchase  of  Albany  and  Manhattan, 
2'.Ht;  would  drive  the  English  from 
Iludscm's  15ay,  :>01 ;  mentioned,  321). 

Dudley's  nuip,  170. 

Du  (Jay,  270. 

Diihaut,  311),  322. 

Duluth,  amoufj  tlio  Sioux,  2";!;  takes 
.  possession  of  the  country,  273,  20.i ; 
seeks  a  waterway,  274;  seeks  salt 
water,  274  ;  meets  Hennepin,  277  ; 
arrested  at  Quebec,  277  ;  distrusted 
hy  La  Salle,  280,  200 ;  sent  to  Lake 
N(>])ii>on,  30.") ;  summoned  by  La 
Bane,  32S ;  on  the  Detroit  Kiver, 
330;  near  Lake  Superior,  331;  joins 
Denonville,  :'>;!() ;  map  of  his  western 
route,  :)47. 

Durantave,  3o;!,32S,  330,  3.33,  330. 

Dutch  and  the  fur  trade,  147. 

Dutch  West  India  Company,  130. 

Duval,  his  map,  181,  210. 

Eden's  edition  of  Miinster,  09. 

Effingham,  Lord,  327. 

Eliot,  John,   173. 

Endicott  at  Salem,  13."). 

England,  and  the  HugueTir.ts,  132 ; 
treaty  with  France,  137 ;  granting 
charters  on  the  coast,  203. 

English  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  4 ;  under 
Cabot,  0,  r)2,  53  ;  under  Kirke,  138  ; 
trading,  145. 

English  colonies,  population,  343 ;  in- 
vasion planned,  348  ;  projects  of 
uniting,  300  ;  building  war  vessels, 
301. 

Erie,  Lake,  uncertain  knowledge  of, 
151,  100,  207  ;  first  ti-acked  by  Joliet, 
210 ;  DoUier  takes  possession,  220. 
In  m.aps  :  Galin^e's,  221  ;  Hennepin's 
(1083),  276,  279;  Franquelin's,  344; 
Coronelli's,  -345;  Kaffeix's,  347;  La 
Hontan's,353,  3.54  ;  Hennepin's,  3.59  ; 
Wells's,  302. 

Eries  (Indians),  115. 

Espiritu  Santo,  Bay,  203,  317. 

Esprit,  Pierre  d".     See  lladisson. 


Fagun<les,  Joam  Alvarez,  12-14. 

Faillon,  Abh^,  on  Canadian  history,  33, 
80,  83,  9(),  104. 

Ferland,  Abb^,  44,  9<J,  177. 

Ferrvland,  124, 

Fiefs,  107. 

FiniBus.  Orontius,  22. 

Fleet,  Henry,  138. 

Fletcher,  Governor,  355. 

Florio,  John,  57. 

Florida,  37,  131. 

Fort  Albany,  331. 

Fort  Cr^vecoBur,  200;  abandoned,  208, 
272. 

Fort  Frontenac,  252,  333 ;  plan,  335 ; 
invested,  343. 

Fort  Hayes,  331. 

Fort  Loyal  (Portland),  349. 

Fort  Miami,  289,  290.  _ 

Fort  Niagara,  257,  337. 

Fort  Prudhommo,  291,  297. 

Fort  Kichelieu,  192. 

Fort  Rupert,  331. 

Fort  St.  Anne.  191. 

Fort  St.  Josepli,  204,  272,  288. 

Fort  St.  Louis  (Texas),  317;  (Quebec), 
.•'.00  ;  (Starved  Hock),  302,  340. 

Fort  Th^r^se,  104. 

Fox  Kiver,  152, 199,  237;  portage,  248, 
249,  ;U4,  345 ;  map,  349. 

Foxes  (Indians),  237,  289,  330,  348. 

France  and  Spain,  231. 

Francis  I.  of  France,  74  ;  and  Ameri- 
can discovery,  18,  21,  27,  31,  .35.  37. 

Franciscans,  158. 

Franciscus  Monachus  and  his  globe,  22, 
73. 

Frangois-Roi,  43. 

Franciuelin,  274;  maps,  293,  294,  .302, 
308,  344 ;  his  drawing  of  the  fort  at 
Quebec,  300 ;  maps  of  Boston  harbor, 
301. 

Frascastoro,  01. 

Freire  miip,  14,  02. 

Fremin,  2U). 

French  Creek,  223. 

French,  The,  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  11 ; 
on  the  Atlantic  coast,  17. 

Freville,  on  the  commerce  of  Rouen,  18. 

Frobisher,  OS,  280. 

Frontenac,  made  governor  of  Canada, 
232 ;  his  character,  232  ;  interest  in 
exploration,  233,  240 ;  on  Joliet's  dis- 
coveries, 240 ;  wishes  a  vessel  built 
on  Lake  Erie,  247,  252  ;  conference 
at  Cataraqui,  251,  252;  Jesuits'  op- 
position, 251 ;  relations  with  La  S.alle, 
25 1  ;  builds  vessels  on  Ontario,  252 ; 
and  the  bushrangers,  253;  alleged 
trading  interests,  273,299;  losing  con- 
trol of  the  Iroquois,  298  ;  withdrawn 
to  France,  299 ;  recalled  to  Canada, 


INDEX. 


871 


34') ;  his  new  instructions,  .14.'  ;  fnllg 
in  plans  of  invading  Now  York,  ;i48 ; 
rupels  Pliips  at  Quebec,  ;i50;  dpnces 
a  war  danee,  ;5r,|  ;  disagroes  witli  tho 
bishop,  •,\:m;  uttackH  tlie  Iroquois, 
•it!'.);  and  Ik'Uoniont,  yChJ  ;  dies,  aOiJ: 
portrait  in  death,  ;J04. 

Fundy,  Bay  of,  02,  (J;j. 

Furlano,  280. 

Fur  trade,  147;  difficulties  of  ropulat- 
iiif?,  277  ;  more  licenses  granted,  277  ; 
demoralizing  effects,  2!)i»;  English 
and  French  rivalry,  ;i:50,  ;{,)0. 

Gali  in  the  Pacific,  28(». 

^»Jj»^«.  ^^4;  hb  journal  and  map,  21'), 

GalliBus,  (10. 

Galvr3ston  Bay,  313,  317. 

Ganeuu,  74. 

Ganong,  on  Cartier's  track,  20. 

Giircitas  Kiver,  317. 

Garnier,  210. 

Garroau,  183. 

Giisp^,  20,  «0. 

Giustaldi's  maps,  00,  01. 

Genesee  country,  ;{;}il, 

George,  Lake,  J  00. 

Georgian  Bay,  1 10. 

GeiTitsz,  II.,  helectio  Freti  Iludsoni,  107 ; 

Jtamap,  lOS-llO. 
Gifart,  Kobert,  ]")."). 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  07,  280. 
Gillam,  Captain  Z.,  I!).").  107. 
Gold,  sought  by  the  Spaniards,  5 :  spu- 

nous,  40, 44.  '     '    i' 

Golfo  Quadrado,  10. 
Goma-a,  Historia,  11,  58. 
Gosselin,  E.  H.,  Glanes,  101;  Nouvelles 

(rlane.i,  101, 
Gottfried  map,  180. 
Grand  liiver,  210. 
Gravd.     .See  Pontgravd. 
(iravier,  P6re,  ;](i.5. 

Grayjer,  La  Salle,  223;  on  Joliet's  map, 

24  (. 

Great  Kenawha  River,  230. 

Green  Bay,  name,  230;   misplaced  by 
Champlain,  143,  144,  151. 

Grelon,  18(). 

Griffin,  A.  P.  C,  318. 

"Griffon,"  The,  built,  200;  is  lost,  203; 
early  picture,  275. 

GiolK't,  324. 

Grosseilliers,  Sieur  de,  in  Canada,  182  ; 
at  Lake  Superior,  183,  180  ;  at  Three 
Kivers,  180;  goes  west,  187;  at  the 
north,  195;  proposes  a  voyage  to, 
105 ;  goes  to  Boston,  105  ;  at  Hudson's 
Bay,  105  ;  in  Englard,  190 ;  again  in 
Canada,  253;  in  Quebec,  301;  at- 
tacks Port  Nelson,  301. 


Grynreus,  Novus  Orbit,  22. 
Guast.     See  Monts. 
Gutierrez  map,  48. 


Ilakluyt,  19;  on  Cartier,  41,  44,  .12;  on 
a  fi^'sh  water  sea.  00 ;  [V^atertie  Plant- 
"»y,  OH,  72;  in  Paris,  00;  on  the  .St. 
Lawrence  valley,  70;  Divers  Vouaqes. 
.2;  niai)  (1587),  72;  his  version  of 
1  eter  Martyr,  73  ;  relations  with  Or- 
telius,   ,3;  His  labors,  74;   and  Les- 
carbot,  98. 
Hamy,  E.  T.,  7,51. 
Hariofs  Virginia,  113. 
Harleyai!  mappemonde,  14,  51. 
llarrisse,  ileiwy.    Discovert/    of   North 
America,  12,  54;  views  on  American 
discovery,    21,   52;    his    Cahots,    23; 
Champlain's  map,  103;   Cartuyraphie 
de  Nvuvelle  France,  224,  240. 
Harvard  College,  147. 
Havre  do  Grace,  W. 
Hubert,  Louis,  121,  1.54. 
Heins,  339. 

Hennepin,  uses  Marquette's  map,  240 ; 
arrives  in  Canada,  254 ;  ministers  to 
the  Iroquois,  255 ;  at  Fort  Frontenac, 
2.)(  ;  drawing  of  a  buffalo.  259;  view 
of  ^Niagara,  201  ;  on  the  Mississippi, 
2()(;    meets   Duluth,   277;    at    Fort 
frontenac,  278 ;  his  Description  de  la 
Louisiane,  278,  282;  his  map  (1083), 
2<8,    279,   282;    his    voracity,    282; 
^ouvelle  Decouverte,   282;     relations 
with  La  Salle,  282 ;  his  mr.p   (1097), 
282,284,  285;  Nouvelle  VoUe,  283, 
28() ;  recent  discus.sions,  284  ;  liis  ir-^- 
sponsible    editors,   285 ;     joins   Wil- 
liam III.  of  England.  280  ;  The  New 
Discovery,  28(5;    his   books  popular, 
30  (  ;  his  larger  map,  358. 
Henri,  the  Dauphin,  38. 
Henri  n.,  74. 
Henri  III.,  74. 

Henri  IV.,  74,  77.  S2,  S3;  killed,  iOO. 
Herman,  map  of  Maryland,  207. 
Heylyn's  map,  180,  181. 
Hochelaga.  30,  31,  39 ;  view  of.  32  ;  dis- 
appeared, 31 ;  plan  of  Lescarbot,  34. 
Hoehelay,  39. 
Homera's  map,  02. 

Hondius,    Mercator  -  Atlas,   107;     map 
(1035),  141,  147;  and  the  Straits  of 
Anian,  280, 
Honfleur,  74,  83,  94,  98,  )21. 
Hundred  Associates,  company  formed, 
Jo?','*£  territory,  131;  its  purposes, 
I'ii,  107;  give  up  their  charter,  190. 
Hudson,  Henry,  on  the  Hudson  Kiver, 
OS;    in   the   north,  100;    his   charts, 
10() ;  account  of  his  voyage,  100. 
Hudson  Bay  Company,   197,  301;   its 


872 


INDEX. 


effect  on  western  <li»rovpry,  iiO'J  ;  Ou- 
liith  to  (livuit  tliiir  tiiul«<,  ;!(»."i,  JJol; 
tlicir  |M)Hts  uttiicki'd  l)y  Do  Ti'oyes, 
;1;>1  ;  ri'clmrtt'i'cil,  ;i.")I. 

Iliulsdii  Ivivcr,  S."),  ;!l(l. 

IIiuIkdh'm  !{,iy,  j)r.'finur(i(l,  KM!;  nin|)|KMl, 
WX;  .lanii'H'H  niiip,  II.");  Siiimon'H 
nm|),  1711;  other  oivrly  iiini)s,  17'.*-IS|, 
llKl,  liKi;  piwsjin'tm  to  liy  liiiid,  HI.') ; 
.Iiiiiii'h's  Itjiv,  lll.'t;  (iroHHuillierH  lit, 
liMl,  ll»7;  Knuli.sh  in,  ll»7,  l!»s,  2i);!, 
2;!  I  ;  the  Kri'n<'li  take  fornitil  poHses- 
hIoii,  'S,\\  ;  Jolii't's  notions  of  ilsu'eo^p- 
nipliy.  -'!."),  lM(i;  Kramiuilin's  map, 
:.".ll  ;  tli(!  KiiuHhIi  tradcrH,  •.!()"l ;  clainm 
of  tlio  Frcni'li.  :!(M) ;  Port  Nelson  nt- 
taeked,  .101  ;  New  iMlfflandei's'  illieit 
trade,  :!()1  ;  Freneli  imd  English  at, 
•S;!l  ;  ilailot's  map,  '.V.VZ. 

Ilnfjuenots  in  the  English  colonies,  .'il'S. 

Ilumher  Kiver,  'St'l. 

Ilnmhohlt,  Alexan<ler  von,  on  tho 
Str.'iits  of  Aiiian,  '.'SO. 

Hnron,  Lake,  Sfi,  10.'),  |20 ;  mapped 
by  ("hampluin,  1 1'_' ;  united  with  l.ake 
Miehinan,  L'"21,  9:2.-1.  In  maps:  Fian- 
qnelin's,  .!  14  ;  Coronelli's,  JM.') ;  Haf- 
feix's.  :!47;  I<a  Ifontan"s,  .'i.'il',  ;!.");! ; 
Hennepin's,  .'i.'ilt;  Wells's,  .")()2. 

Ilnrons,  ;!;!,  \C>,  ||.");  war  with  the  Iro- 
quois, 11(1;  their  villages,  117.  I.')0; 
map  of  their  country,  IL'O;  misnions, 
].')S  ;  attacked  by  tins  Iroquois,  172; 
dispersed,  17-';  at  the  Island  of  Or- 
leans, 17(!;  driven  west,  I7S  ;  found 
there,  ISC,  |S7  ;  at  La  Pointe,  L'OO  ; 
feud  with  tin*  .Sionx,  '-'Ol,  20-';  Mar- 
quette jimoiif;,  234 ;  on  tho  Detroit 
River,  270. 

Iberville  at  Hudson's  Ray,  .']:)I,  .T)0. 

Illinois  Indi.ins,  l.")l,  201  ;  seen  by  l\a.v- 
quette,  2;!4  ;  hunted  bv  the  Iroquois, 
242,  2(iS,  ;]0.') ;  at  Starved  Kock,  ;i02. 

Illinois  River,  .Tacended  by  Jtdiet,  24;5. 

Inoarn-ation,  M^re  de  I',  IS.'!. 

Indians,  kidnapped,  2<i,  2S,  '.]'),  .')7,  30; 
sales  of  arms  to,  12:!;  treatment  of 
by  Europeans,  l:ii> ;  in  council,  14() ; 
from  New  PIngland  at  the  west,  288, 
2!M),  29.").     See  names  of  tribes. 

lowas,  17S,  ;il)l. 

Iro(piois  attacked  by  Champlain,  0.'),  00, 
110  ;  constant  attacks  on  the  French, 
9() ;  their  isolated  position,  1 15  ;  war 
on  the  Ilnrons,  110;  threaten  Quebec, 
12");  make  peace,  120;  their  ubi- 
quity, I'jS  ;  at  the  west,  150  ;  pet  fire- 
arms, 100 ;  peace  of,  KiO  ;  their  num- 
bers, 100 ;  attack  the  Hurons,  172  ; 
sue  for  peace,  175;  fig'hting  the 
Eries,  175;    and  the   fur  trade,  175; 


iind  the  .lesuits,  170;  their  cnmnmnd- 
iny-  country,  177  ;  their  number,  I8H; 
hunt  the  MoiitagnaiM,  l,ss,  |()7. 
leng-ne  with  the  EnnliHli,  liC!;  on 
the  Ohio,  241,  242;  drive  the  Shaw- 
nees,  241;  nniet  Frontenac  at  Cata- 
raqni,  2.")  I  ;  instiffated  bv  the  Dutch, 
2V_' ;  subdue  the  .Andasles,  2."i5  ;  raids 
into  the  English  cohinies,  ::'."m  ;  in 
the  Illinois  country,  2(i4  ;  attack  their 
towns,  208;  middlemen  for  the  Kujr. 
lish,  208  ;  La  Salle's  league  agaiMst 
them,  28'.l;  niidiug  west,  208  ;  leanu- 
iiig-  with  the  Ennlish,  I'OS  ;  eoiuled 
by  French  and  EnKlIsh,  .'IlL';  have 
firearms.  ;!20 ;  alleged  treaty  with 
the  French,  Ji:'.;! ;  ngreenieiils  with 
the  English,  .">;!;'.  ;  their  warriom,  :l;;;;; 
map  of  their  country,  ;>;!8 ;  banding- 
the  western  tribes,  .'!48,  .'155  ;  demand 
English  nssistanc(^  ;!55  ;  attiu'ked  by 
Frontenac,  ;'.0O  ;  dwindling,  .'Id I  ;  their 
intluenee,  .Km;  nu.ke  peace  with  tho 
French,  IJOti. 

Iron<le(|uoii  l!a>,  210,  .'JIJV,  IJoO. 

Island  of  Orleans,  20. 

Isle  aux  Coudres,  20. 

Jncker,  Father,  187,  2."0. 

ih'K'obs/.,  ma])s,  124,  125. 

Jail-birds  in  Canada,  28,  o8,  44. 

•lailot,  his  map,  :!li2. 

.lalobert,  ]Mac(<,  28,  liO,  40. 

Jamay,  Dennis,  114,  115. 

James,  Stranye  Vouage,  14.";  his  map, 
14."). 

James  II.  of  England,  320,  332,  .341, 342. 

Japan,  282. 

Jesso,  Island  of,  281. 

Jesuits,  join  the  Recollects  mi  Canada, 
120;  their  labors,  120;  t.ivored  by 
Richelieu,  l.'iS;  their  Ililatiims,  VW, 
201.  233  ;  their  connection  with  Cham- 
plain's  final  edition,  141;  sent  west, 
148;  their  influence,  157;  their  nuir- 
tyrs,  101  ;  among  the  Iroquois,  I7<i, 
217  ;  struggle  with  theSnlpitians,  170, 
217;  and  Frontenac,  233,  2.").1 ;  as 
traders,  2.53  ;  on  La  Salle,  257  ;  rela- 
tions with  La  Salle,  200  ;  their  Ji'la- 
tioiis  as  evidence,  .333  ;  expelled  from 
the  Iioquois  country,  .'141  ;  disagree 
with  Frontenac,  35(i,  ilCi);  and  the 
liquor  traffic,  ;!50 ;  dislike  Cadillac, 
300. 

Jogues,  150;  captured,  100;  among  the 
Iroquois.  101,  10: » ;   killed,  100. 

Joliet,  seeking  copper  mines,  203,  218; 
with  St- Lusson,  204;  at  Green  Bay, 
205  ;  meets  La  Salle,  218  ;  first  tracks 
Lake  Erie,  21!»;  his  larger  map,  224, 
225  ;   hia  smaller  map,  220,  227 ;  se- 


INDEX. 


Ipptpil  for  wPHtPHj  (liHPovprv  2^4  •  i<r 
noiMMtof  what  I,u  S/ilI„  luKl'.lon,,  'i:J4  • 
joimM  l,yMarn,,.,U„.  '>.\\-  hin  ,„„,,«; 
-ill;  hiH  (.xpp.htioM,  L'.'IT;  ruapliPH  tl,„ 
Mhhihh.,.,.,  •.'.!«;  viHitH  th-  Illinois, 
^tn;(uiMMlm<.k.LM;;;  ..,,  il.o  Illinoin, 

"t  SHMlt  St„.  Mario,  'j.|.»;  at  V.h. 
tvnuU'uiu;  :.'! » ;  loMPH  liiH  panel's,  2ir,  ■ 
liw paihpHt  map  { l()7.1-7 1).  24r>  "17  • 
l.mruHo(i,^M.<ralo,LM<;;hiHa<...o;„.; 
«;t    lim   ..xploratioHH,    '.'•».-).   L'KI;   niai) 

«lrawn»romi-.,.oll,.,.tioM,  LM!);  ,| ,1 

Uio  riKlit  (o  ,1  tradinK-p.mt,  on  tlio 
Mmsi.sM.pp,,  2M);  H,.,.t,  to  Mu.lMon'H 
»'iy,   ..U|;  „,ap   „f    I.JH   ,,,„f„   „„   „|^^ 

iMiMMiHsipp,,;;47;  l.isb.iil.linKM  on  An- 
Joniai'd,  '(if, 
Joiit.4   witl,  La  Sallo,  .TIO;  J.Ih  ./„„,„„/ 

;ivii!MioftatFortst.L::;::.';;';i;; 

;-):   on  La  Sall-'H   Ut  ..xp..,Iition 
•  -I  ;  Heparat..s  hon.  La  Hallo's  .nnr- 

•>-! ;  tolls  a  fiilso  story,  liij;) 
JuchiToan,  ;!(!(>. 
Judjuiis's  map,  (;7. 


373 


Kankiikpo  River,  244,  205  27'>  fQO 

Kii.sk,-..skia  (on  the  Illinoisj,*24"r     ' 

Kennebeo  Jfiver,  !)I,  147. 

Kiekapoos,  2.J7,  2(i!». 

Kinff  map,  ". 

KinKsfoNl,  Canada,  H\,  211,  200,  317. 

Kuke,  Davi.l,  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  l.i>  • 

returns  to    Knul'owl     i"".         \       ' 

Quehee,  l:i4     ^         '      '"'    "''^^"''^ 

Kirke,  GervHse,  l;i2. 

Kohl,  J.  G,,  Discovery  of  Maim,  25,  20. 

Kretschmer's  Atlas,  5,  \:,   \n  22. 
■tvunstmann's  maps,  .'J,  0. 

La  Bftrre,  Governor,  800 ;  impedes  La 
balle  8  niovenients,  :}(«;  invades  the 
beneca  conntry,  ;!2(; 

early  maps,  l.>;  its  coasts,  20. 
La  Cliesnaye,  ;i(M). 

Lachine  attacked,  .143;  rapids,  8',. 
Laconia,  1;).),  '(!(). 

La  Forest,  272,  2,S8,  ;}10. 
Lafreri's  atiiia,  01. 

^'•'JJr^'^f  in  Canada,  3.^1;  his  maps, 
•i.jj, .).).{,  ,j.)4.  »^  ' 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  ]."i]. 

Lakes.     Set-  names  of  lakes. 

LaCmant,  Charles,  12!),  130,  lyo 

Laleniant,  Gabriel,  172. 

Lamberville,  327.  334 

La  Mothe  Cadillac.     'See  Cadillac. 


Lnnp,  Ralph,  72. 

La  ['"ii.to,  I  Si-);  miwion,  liW,  IfH), 
I-a  I'laile  Hiver,  240. 
La  rolhirie,  204. 
L'ArihcvtMine,  ;;2I,  ;)24. 
La  |{o<  he.     Src  Koberval. 
La  SHlle,   his  early   lif..,  lMO;  ami  the 
.f.HnitH    211,22.-,;  set.h. ,„•  Mon! 

tieal  211;  portrait.  212;  plans  an  ex. 
I>"<liHon,2i;;;.|o,n...|  by  (^iliiiA.,  214  • 
H'.'itH,  2l4;aiMon>rt|,„l,,     ,„i     ^>,7: 

I.  /ir'''  f'V,r-V  'li-'Jie  discover 
Mie  Uliio  and   MwHissippi  ■:'  -'23   ""4  • 

I'lH  L.-U'hine  estate,  22H  ;  and  the'e'iHy 
iii.ips,  2;iO;  m„„tH  .Jolirt,  244  •  at 
al.,nu,ui  244;  thinks  of  a  t.aHic  in 
."Hah,  skins,  21,-,;  relations  witl 
l'roi.tenac,2.,l  ;  eommaii.ls  Fort  Froi,. 
t<;''m'.2.,2;   returns  to   France,    2.-,;!; 

obtains  a  Krant,  2.-.3  ;  af,vees  to  rebnild 
Hovt  troiitenac,  2.-,4;  ennobled,  2.-,4  • 

rournstoCaii,ula,;2.-.4;sti.en«th.,,m 
1-ort  hronteiiae,  2.-,.-,;  keeps  v.'ss-ls 
""Lake  Kiie,2,M;  a^r.ain  in  F  u.ce' 
^.,1, ;  receives  a  patent  for  the  Misl 
«-«H4,p,  ..ountry,  2.-,(i;  ^ains  the  aid 
of    L'Mty,    2.,7;  his  ch/ua-ter,    2.-,7 ; 

GriHon,"  2.„s,  1,;^  creditors,  200; 
at  ,St.  It^i.aee,  2ti2;  at  Grcn  H.ay 
:^02;  on  Lake  Mi.4ii«a,n,  2<i3 ,  anx- 
uM.s  about  the  ''Griiton,-'  204,  2.»i, 

»;k  '  -I;  '"I"';'.''  ^"  ♦'"-•  «"fti<'"".iits, 

^<'N  2(0;  at    Fort    Fronten.-U'     271- 
business  embarrassments,   271  •  cm' 

111  nois   2-2;  reaches  the  Mississippi, 
ff;  returns  to  tho    Miami  country 

pin,  ^Si,  1,,,,  ,,fhcial  report,  280;  in 
the   Miami   country,  2SS;   misrepre- 
sented  bythe  .Jesuits,  2S,S ;  l.is  \lo- 
hegan   hunter,  2NS  ;   hears  of  Tonty. 
2,S!I;  finds  hini  at  xMackiiiac,  2.S0-  at 
Catar.aqui  makiuR'  his  will,2S!»;  hates 
Alloue/.,  2!»0;   t,ikes  possession  of  the 
Arkansas  country,  2!I2;  at  the  mouth 
-.  *''«^^f'1'"S'"PP>,-^!»-'5;  falls  ill,  207; 
ms  official   report,  297;   liints  at  a 
voyag-e  to  the  Mexican  gulf,  2!  17  •  his 
movements    incensed    tho    Iroquois, 
-J.'s ,  Ins  enemies  in  power,  300 ;   his 
property  seized,  .-JOO ;  returns  to  the 
I  hnois,  302;  fortifies  SUirved  Rock, 
•i"»2  ;  embarrassed  by  La  Barre,  .{0.}  • 
his  post  seized  by  De  }{.-iugis,  304 ;' 
hears  of  Prontenac's  recall,  304,  ;!0(J  • 
leaves  the  liock,  305  ;  i„  France  .307 .' 


•utmmmmmmm 


874 


INDEX. 


plaiM  nil  (>xp(*(lition  by  nea  to  the 
iiioiitliHof  tilt)  Mi)wiMHi]i|>i,  oOS ;  would 
rtmcli  tliti  liniithnii,  :i(l>S ;  liiu  iiimts  in 
Cuiiiidfi  rosfornd,  UK);  coiiinuHHionod 
to  (fovi^ni  LoiiiHiuiiu,  !lt();  hix  dis- 
ordurod  wiiyH,  ill  I  ;  funra  of  tliu  Jhh- 
iiitti,-'ll  I  ;  hhiIh,  1112  ;  nt  San  Doiniiiffo, 
I'lli;  thu  Nhi|)H  Hopiiriitu  in  a  ioff, 
.'llli ;  Oil  tilt)  Tuxan  tMHwt,  .'HM ;  joiikmI 
by  liua.ijt'U,  lilll  ;  diHenibarkH,  MH; 
luHtiH  tilt)  "  Aimable,"  '•'il4;  hit)  canii), 
:!I4;  liiH  confiimon  about  tho  Miiwiii- 
Hippi  mouths,  olT;  builds  Fort  >St. 
Louis,  •°!I7;  tirsi.  attunipt  to  find  the 
Mississippi,  'MH;  loses  the  "  Utdle," 
[I'M  J  seeks  a  way  to  the  Illinois 
country,  .i2(» ;  his  last  exjiedition,  1521 ; 
killeil,  ;I22  ;  fate  of  his  cidony,  ;i24 ; 
map  of  his  route  to  the  Mississippi, 
347. 

La  Tour.  Charles  do,  138, 173. 

Lavaca  Hay,  317. 

Laval  arrives,  170;  on  liquor  selling', 
IHii;  portrait,  215;  returns  from 
France,  254. 

Le  Caron,  Joseph,  114,  115, 117. 

Leclercq,  Premier  Etahlissement  de  la 
Foy,  283,  310. 

Leisier,  Qo-'ernor,  344,  S.'iO. 

Le  Jeune,  131),  144,  143,  155,  159  j  por- 
trait, 157. 

Lemercier,  158,  200. 

Lomoine,  Quebec,  327. 

Le  Moyne,  8imon.  175. 

Lesearbot  on  Hochelag'a,  34 ;  on  Car- 
tier,  40;  La  Nouvelle  France,  08,  101. 

Le  Sueur,  I'lerre,  342,  348,  350,  300, 
3(55. 

Liens,  N.  des.  map,  03. 

L'nschoten,  0(J. 

Liotot,  321,  322. 

Liturjjical  test  in  geography,  14 

Lok's  map,  20,  21,  72. 

Long  River,  351. 

Longrais  on  Cartier,  23. 

Louis  XIV.,  320,  341. 

Louisiana,  taken  possession  of  by  La 
Salle.  203 ;  its  extent  in  Franquelin 
map,  203. 

Louviguy,  355. 

Luiz,  Lazaro,  map,  l:f. 

Mackenzie  River,  151. 

Mackinac,  map  of,  235 ;  strengthemd, 
303 ;  Jesuit  mission,  355  ;  garrison, 
357  ;  the  settlement,  3()0. 

Mackinaw,  Straits  of,  144 ;  its  dominat- 
ing posititHi,  150. 

Magdalene  Islands,  20. 

Magellan,  4. 

Maine,  coast  of,  00,  112. 

Maiollo  (Maggiolo)  map,  14,  18,  19. 


MaisonneuvR.  founder  of  Montreal,  1%  ; 
his  portrait,  104. 

Major,  H.  11.,  55. 

Maiicu,  Jeanne,  her  portrait,  105 ;  iim< 
barks  at  Kochelle,  100, 

Manhattan,  124,  147. 

Miiiiitouliii  Islands,  202,  204. 

Marcel,  224. 

Margry,  Collection,  etc.,  216, 219, 222-224, 
227,  240,  247,  250,  2H2,  287,  280,  201, 
202,  205,  311,  317,  323,  325  ;  his  char- 
acter, 223,  227  ;  his  route  for  La  Sallu, 
224,  225. 

Marquette,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  V,)\), 
202,  2(MI;  nt  La  Pointe,  100,  2(KI; 
founds  St.  Ignace  mission,  202 ;  at 
Sault  .Ste.  Marie,  220,  his  statue, 
231  ;  joins  Joliet,  234  ;  on  (he  Missis- 
sippi. 242  ;  at  Mackinac,  244  ;  his  ac- 
counts of  his  discoveries,  217;  his 
Kiaps,  248,  240 ;  returns  to  the  Illi- 
nois, 240;  winters  near  the  Chicago 
portage,  240;  at  Kaskaskia,  250;  his 
death,  250;  his  grave,  250. 

Mai-shall,  C).  II,,  on  Chainplain's  ma'  •  , 
117;  Historical   iVritinys,  210,  L..  ., 

:v.]s. 

Martin,  Mission  du  Canada,  240,  247. 

Marlines,  TO. 

Martyr,  Peter,  doubts  the  Asiatic  the 
ory,  ;'.. 

Marvland  founded,  1.34;  mapped,  207. 

Mixscoutins,  152,  237,  2(i4. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  113;  population  of, 
147. 

Massachusetts  charter,  135,  203. 

Mass^,  Eneinond.  120,  145. 

Miitagorda  Day,  315. 

Matagorda  fsland,  313. 

Maumee  Itiver,  250. 

Maurcpas,  300. 

Maz".rin,  180. 

Medina,  Pedro,  Arte  de  Navegar,  50; 
map,  50. 

Megapolennis,  170. 

Melwarik,  304.     See  Milwaukee. 

Membrt?,  201,  207,  270;  his  journal  and 
Hennepin's,  283, 280, 280, 207  ;  among 
the  Arl-  •'tisaa,  202 ;  nurses  La  .Sidle, 
207 ;  on  La  Salle's  Texan  expedition, 
310. 

Menard,  Rend,  187. 

Mercator,  Gerard,  maps  (1538),  48,  40; 
his  groat  map,  04 ;  comparative  ge- 
ographer, 05,  70 ;  A  las,  88 ;  on  the 
Straits  of  Aiiian,  280 

Mercator-Hondins  Atlas,  101. 

Mercure  Franr/)is,  101. 

Metellus.  07. 

Meulan  tie  Circe,  229. 

Meules,  350. 

M(5zy,  Sieur  de,  189. 


niinok,  2«.S; 


tl.  1,  .   I..ujr|„„|.   JM,, 

Wiuhiniiii,    Liik,,     |-,t.      I       ... 

"     '    '^■'"K",    i.)i;     (Ii>N(<ril)e(l    hv 

1..,  rr  .    '    "y  ^■'•»   Iliintiiii.  ;J  )•' ■ 

MiliJt,  ;Ji,s,  ;r44.  "H'«M, -ifW. 

^'illo  Liifs^  27.!. 
^lilwiiiikt-u,  i'(i4,  ;j()4 
».'"<;(,  l.iH, imp,  ;{i-,,yi,(. 

y.jj,  .,..J  '       — ;' •   readied  in    Ki?;) 
Bv/    ;'   1.    '        '  ■'•''  n«t  ve  nan,,,  .»  ^ . 

of,  -no  X'     :  """'"'l''"  a  first  nmp 

tallod  Colbert,  2(M»     •>!)  I .    .v'    *■  ^^1 

month   •>!»-,.  ''a  '  1-  "■    '^""'^  "'  't« 
•oiitn,  .-!).j  ,      Acadian  coast,"  'JiC.  • 

F  am,uel,„'.s  map  of  its  months,  2    i  '■ 

Coroncili-s  n,ap    yWSS)':u^''{;^' 
fi'ixs   man    'U?  •     ir  •   . '     "'"" 

WcllsC'i<|>  '     "«"'»'P">'«.   ••i-^8; 

Mi*,ouri  River,  151,  240;  called  Osage, 

Mistassini  River,  44 

Mitfhell,  John,  2.10. " 

Mobile  Bay,  2.")(i,  2!).'i. 

Moha»vks   make'  ppiice     IfiO.   „„•  i- 

,      *'"»-ji  i.n  ,  sne  tor  ueaco   I'U 
Mohog-ans,  2(10,  204,  -'SN   •r?a   •!?•- 
Molineaux's  map,  OT,  Ji*'        '  '^''•'• 

T1'^]^:P'"*.^"'1''>^;    "Missions, 
11.,,  i.hS;  mentioned    ITfi   1^«   m- 

Montanus,  207.  '      ' '  ^^'• 

Wontigny,  304.' 

Montmagny,  Charles  Huanit  de  ISfi- 
his  policy  as  governor,  1.57         '         ' 

Montmorcacy,  Duke  of  12;J;  sells  hi, 
vieeroyalty.  12(i,  ^ 

Montmorency  Falls,  84 

Montreal,  visHed  by  Cartier.  .3.3  •  site 
of,  8u;    founded,   ].Jl,.    map  I'f ts 


/iV7)A'A'. 


875 


Mont  Uoyalo^  ,  '"'*• 
Monts.  ,si,„„.  ,,„^  77  the  Athntio 

«"Hwt,  IK)  J  on  thii  Sf  r         .'^^"antJo 

I's,  IK).  '''•  J-ftwrence,  1*;{, 

Moranget,  ;!2I. 
Moruau,  I'ierro,  274. 
Mount  Desert,  '12, 
Mount  .loliet,  24.) 
Mouy,  Charles  d,.,'  27 

Mnnster,«eh<u,tinn,  ().);hisnmp8,  40, 

Miiskingnni  River,  223. 
Miiskiat  J.ake,  112. 
Myritius,  his  map,  73. 


Nahant,  Dutch  at,  112. 

Aaiicy  nlobe,  TjO. 

A'antes,  Edict  of,  74. 

Natchez  Irdians,  202. 
Nepigon,  Lake.  lo.j. 
^e-'-rs,  110.    ■ 
New  -imsterdam,  IflO. 
New  Hiscay  mine.. ,  .■{12. 

'     '  ';.   ",""' '  'society  for  the  I'lon 

agat.on  of  the  Gospel  i„    Wl  ''" 

Jation,  174,  l,S7    ^         '  ''■*'  l'"P"- 

n;a,..  IH  ,07,  i4;. U^;iv:irfeS' 

J'''^^r''yn"»'th  Colony,  147. 
New  .Scotland,  128 

New  York  and  the  Iroquois,  10.1 ;  ffrnnts 
to  the  Duke  of  York  -'(V  ■  '  ^™'" 
^o  the  English   (1,  74)   '7  ';.'  T'^'T^ 

t^n,^:^!';invasl.n'ti;;c:;:ne,r'S. 
atoek  proposed  by  the  F.enci,  w! 

1<^4  •  1^,1  s  in  Cbamplain's  map     44! 
^•arly  notions,  144;  mentioned  bvVi ' 

'I'  ,  *alls  heai'd  bv  La  Sail,,    -n- 
Gorge,  244;  River,  liutp,  2  I      lie;  ,e' 
pms  view  of  Falls,  20lS\,xagSed 

SmSr4:^,\"L--'«^'«i-''"'^"f;he 

^Ti"*'  /^"i"'  '"«f«3coveries,  22,140 
loO;  at  Three  Rivers.  I.-,;j  ;  effect  „f 
his  story,  m  ;  on  the  Fox  River   o.;^^ 

Nipissing  Lake,  110,  204.  '       '' 

Noel  Jacques,  .-JO,  40,  72,  7.j. 

Nordenskiiild,  21. 

Normans  on  the  Newfoundland  banks. 

North  America,  its  great  waterways,  4; 


376 


INDEX. 


U"5 


«  11 


early  notions  aa  to  its  width,  15,  16; 
as  II  n  archipelag'o,  17  ;  early  maps, 
1-4,  S,  \'>,  ir,-17,  11),  20,  4!),  o;j,  o'J, 
(i4,  07,  72,  110;  as  a  part  of  Asia,  21, 
22. 

Nortli  Sua,  190. 

Northwest  passage,  351. 

Noi'unibega,  'JO. 

Offilbv,  maps,  lUO,  207,  210. 

Ohio  Kivei',  early  intimations  of,  17(5, 
177,  K^l,  217 ;  La  Salle  upon  it,  224 ; 
called  the  Wabash,  241 ;  the  Iroquois 
on,  242  ;  undeveldped  in  Joliet's  maps, 
245,  24() ;  and  m  Marquette's,  248, 
240 ;  approach  by  the  Maumee  and 
Wabash,  250;  unknown  to  Hennepin, 
278,  21)1 ;  misurderstood  by  La  Salle, 
278,  21M  ;  drawn  incorrectly  by  Mi- 
net,  810;  mapped  by  Franquelin, 
844  ;  by  Kaffeix,  847  ;  by  Hennepin, 
858  ;  Englis    traders,  805. 

Oil  Creek,  170. 

0.iib^vays.  150,  159,  183. 

OiU-  105,100. 

01i\;ii.,  J.,  107. 

Oneida,  Lake,  117. 

Onondaga,  Lake,  800. 

Onondagas,  their  fort,  117 ;  its  plan, 
119. 

Ontario,  Lake,  prefigured,  80,  108; 
mapped  by  Chauiplain,  148 ;  its 
southern  water-shed,  101,  175;  map 
(1088),  838,  854;  Hennepin's  map, 
859 ;   ^Vells's,  802. 

Orinoco  River,  10. 

Ortelius's  maps,  04-00 ;  his  interest  in 
American  geography,  (38,  73  ;  on  the 
Straits  of  Anian,  280. 

Osages,  river  of,  241.     See  Missouri. 

Oswego  Kiver,  first  entered,  175. 

Ottawa  Kiver,  seen  by  Cartier,  33 ;  in 
Mercatoi-'s  map,  (55,  72  ;  and  Cham- 
plain,  85,  87,  105 ;  Champlain  on, 
110,  112,  110;  mapped  by  him,  148; 
the  usual  route,  151,  171,  181;  route 
and  portages,  21(),  221,  227  ;  in  Joli- 
et's maps,  245,  240 ;  in  Jailot's  map, 
832. 

Ottawas  at  Manitoulin  Island,  202  ;  on 
the  Mississippi,  214;  mi.ssions,  222, 
on  the  Illinois,  205  :  as  fur-hunters, 
330  ;  Perrot  among  them,  848. 

Outagamies,  204. 

Oviedo,  Sumario,  17,  48,  61. 

Padron  GiMieral,  48. 

Page,  Louis  de,  194. 

Pana  Indians,  202. 

Punuco,  2118,  309. 

Pare,  Sieur  de,  100. 

Parkman,  F.,  on  Cartier'a  portrait,  31 ; 


cited,  74,  118,  150,  224,  230;  his 
maps,  291,  294  ;  on  Peftalosa,  309. 

Parmentier,  Jean,  57. 

Patterson,  l)r.,  12, 

Peitrie,  Madame  de  la,  100 ;  portrait. 
100.  ' 

Peflalosa,  abetting  La  Salle,  809. 

Peun,  William,  801. 

P-"insylvani  i,  charter,  203. 

Pfe  .obscot  Kiver,  90. 

Peoria  Lake,  2(i5. 

Pepin,  Lake,  178,  276,  330,  342. 

Per^,  195,  218. 

Perrot,  Nicohis,  with  St.  Lusson,  202, 
2(_)4  ;  his  memoira,  204  ;  (juarrel  with 
Frontenao,  258,  828;  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, 380 ;  at  the  west,  342 ;  among 
tlie  Ottciwas,  848,  300. 

Philip  II..  74. 

Philip's  war,  288. 

Phillipps.  Sir  Thomas,  55. 

Phips,  Sir  William, .;-)(). 

Pineda  in  the  Gulf  of  Maxico,  5. 

Pinet,  229. 

Plfssis,  Pacifique  du,  114,  121. 

Plymouth  Company,  147. 

Plymouth  Pilgrims,  122,  123,  130. 

Poncet,  P6re,   175. 

Pontchartrain,  8(i0. 

Pontgrav^,  77,  83,89, 91,  98-95, 98, 114, 
121. 

Poole,  W.  F.,  on  Hennepin,  283. 

Pope,  Joseph,  on  Cartier,  28. 

Popellini6re,  08. 

Porcacchi's  maps,  (i8,  280. 

Porcupine  Indians,  171. 

Portland,  Me.,  819. 

Port  Koyal  (Annapolis),  attacked  by 
Phips,  350. 

Portuguese  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
0,  7,  11,  55;  portolanos,  7,  11,  02; 
under  J^gundes,  12, 18  ;  chart  (1520), 
15  ;  on  the  Newfoundland  Banks,  24. 

Pottawattamies,  158,  151),  200,  219, 270. 

Poutrincourt,  90. 

Pr^vert,  Sieur,  80,  83. 

Priest  and  tra'^'>''.  177. 

Prince  Edward  Island,  26. 

Prouville,  Alexander  de.     See  Tracy. 

Ptolemy  maps.  7,  11,  01. 

Puauts,  their  bay,  misplaced  by  Cham- 
plain,  148. 

Purchas,  124. 

Quebec,  Champlain  at,  84;  founded, 
94;  new  fortress  at,  125;  threatened 
by  the  Iroquois,  125;  famine,  180; 
surrender  demanded,  132 ;  given  up, 
184  ;  restored,  135  ;  Indian  confer- 
ence at,  140;  early  records,  148; 
Chapel  of  Notre  Dame  de  Kecou- 
vrance,  149  ;  described,  158  ;  popula- 


INDEX. 


377 


tion,  15fi,  100 ;  its  site  impressed  Fron- 
tenac,  2:!;! ;  great  fire  in,  21)9 ;  ruing 
of  iutendunt's  palace,  327 ;  its  con- 
dition, o^H  ;  attacked  by  Pliips,  o50 ; 
its  defenses,  355. 

Queylus,  214. 

Quints  niission,  214. 

Radisson,  Sieur,  in  Canada,  182;  cap- 
tured, 1S3;  at  the  Nortli,  195;  in 
England,  lt)7 ;  in  Quebec,  oOl. 

Raffeix.  his  maps,  oIJS,  347. 

Ragueueau,  195 ;  his  map,  158 ;  Rela- 
tion, 171,  173. 

Rani^  on  Cartier,  23,  27. 

Ramusio  on  Cartier,  27,  52 ;  his  la- 
bors, (il ;  llaccolta,  57  ;  his  interest  in 
American  geog'rapliy,  74. 

Raudin  lays  out  Fort  Frontenac,  252 ; 
sent  to  Lake  Superior,  255. 

Raynibault,  159 ;  death  of,  100. 

RaziUy,  137. 

Recollects  in  Canada,  114;  their  char- 
acter, 1 15  ;  on  the  St.  Charles,  122  ; 
their  convents  attacked,  12(5 ;  others 
arrive,  12(i ;  befriended  by  Cham- 
pl.iin,  129;  their  missions,  129,  279; 
invite  tlie  Jesuits  to  join  them,  129  ; 
apply  for  a  bishop,  1.39;  excluded 
from  Canada,  l:!!*;  treatment  of  in 
Chauiplain's  final  narrative,  141 ;  and 
Frontenac,  23.3. 

Red  River,  291,  292,  309. 

Reinel  chart,  5-7. 

R(?my,  Daniel  de.     See  Courcelles. 

Ribero  map,  48 

Ribourde,  2(>9. 

Richelieu,  130;  and  the  missions,  13S; 
delays  to  send  succor  to  Canada,  140. 

Richelieu  River,  192. 

Rio  Bravo,  ;J09. 

Rio  Grande,  293. 

Roanoke  River,  72, 

Roberval,  37,  55,  50;  his  career,  40; 
death,  47. 

Rochelle,  merchants  of,  90. 

Rocky  Mountains,  293. 

Ronuin  calendar  in  geography,  14. 

Roquemont,  Claude  de,  131 ;  defeated, 

Rotz's  maps,  50,  51,  (il ;  Boke  of  Idrog- 

riiplii/,  51. 
Rouen   and   the   new  world,   18;  nier- 

ch.mts,  101. 
RoHHsilifere,  213. 
Roy^ze,  44. 
Ruge,  Sophus,  1,  15. 
Rupert,  Prince,  197. 
Rupert's  River,  197. 
Ruseelli's  maps,  ti.">,  70. 
Ruysch's  map,  7,  S. 
Ryawiek.  Peace  of,  ,3(il. 


Sabine  River,  313. 

Sable  Island,  01,  70. 

Sagard,  Gabriel,  12G,  150, 153 ;  on  the 
Indians,  115. 

Sagean,  207. 

Saguenay  River,  29,  37,  42-44,  54, 
78  ;  explored  by  Champlain,  S4 ;  in- 
fested by  Iroquois,  174,  197  ;  ex- 
plored, 198,231,353. 

Sainte  Croix,  Cartier  at,  34. 

Salem,  135. 

Salmon  Falls,  349. 

Sanson's  map,  179,  180  (1009),  238. 

Santa  Cruz,  his  map,  51. 

Sault  St.  Louis,  85. 

Sault  Ste.  Marie,  144,  150;  mission, 
159,  199,  220;  St.  Lusson  at,  202; 
its  position,  200. 

Savignon,  99. 

Schenectady,  194,  .349. 

Schiiner,  his  gores,  21 ;  his  view  of 
North  America,  2 1 ;  his  theory  of 
North  America,  73. 

Schoolcraft,  258. 

Seeley,  Expansion  of  England,  343. 

Seignelay  in  power,  298,  343. 

Seignelay  River,  243.     See  Red  River. 

Seigneuries,  107. 

Seuecas,  villages,  210  ;  object  to  a  fort 
at  Niagara,  25" ;  middlemen  for  the 
English,  258  ;  moving  West,  305, 
;i2(i ;  threaten  to  destroy  the  "  Grif- 
fon," 2(!();  make  a  truce  with  La 
Biiire,  328  ;  attacked  by  Denonville, 
3.')7 ;  m.ap  of  their  country,  339.  See 
Ircxjuois. 

Shawnees,  218,  241,  208,  290,  320. 

Shea.  J.  G.,  1 18  ;  on  La  Salle.  225,  244, 
257. 200,  27(*,  282  ;  his  Cattinlic  Church 
in  Colonial  Dai/s,  225  ;  on  Marquette, 
229,230;  Discover;/  of  the  Mississippi, 
247,  249,  297;  on  Ilennonin,  284;  on 
Peiialosa,  309;  on  the  Lachine  maa- 
sacre,  343. 

Ship  (1013),  113;  building,  147;  cuts 
of,  357. 

Simcoe,  L.ake,  120,  272. 

Sioux,  1.52,  159,  178,  18(5,199,  201,202; 
presents  to,  255 ;  visited  by  Duluth, 
273;  wandering  parties.  27<'),  277;  in 
Montreal,  3(50.     See  Dacot.ahs. 

.Slafter,  E.  F..  118. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  92,  135. 

Soissons,  Comte  de,  103. 

South  America,  Columbus's  view  of  its 
extent,  1(5;  early  maps,  I,  2,  8,  11, 
1.5-17,  19,  20,  22,  49,  04,  (55. 

Spain,  suspicious  of  France,  38. 

Spaniards  and  the  French,  193. 

Sparks,  Jared,  on  Marquette,  249;  on 
La  Salle,  284. 

Square  Gulf,  10,  11,  23,  07. 


378 


INDEX. 


''% 


St.  Anthony's  Falls,  270. 

St.  Cliarles  River,  '^\i,  ;J4. 

St.  Clair,  Lake,  202. 

St.  Cosme,  ;]()4. 

St.  P'rancis  Xavier  mission,  200. 

St.^  Germain-Bu-Laye,  Treaty  of,    137, 

St.   Ig-naee   mission,   202,  250 ;  "  Grif- 
fon "  at,  2(i2. 

St;  Jolin,  Lake,  2'.i\. 

St.  Joseph  Jviver,  2(!4. 

St.  Josepli's  (.Sillei.y)^  15,s;, 

St.  Lawrence  valley,  early  knowledg-e 
oi,  4,  2;i,  (iS;  oripn  of  name,  28,  .jS; 
ascended  by  Cartier,  28,  :]!) ;  earliest 
charts,    42;    ascended    hy  Roberval, 
42;    cartography    of,  'A),   5;J-o.-k  u8, 
02,  04,  0,-i,  (i7,  Ol»,  71  ;    .sliown  as  an 
archipelago,  0;J  ;  attempts  to  colonize 
it  ;  Chaiivin  and  Pontgrav^,  77,  7s' 
Champlain  on.    St.e  Champlain ;  maps 
ot,  by  Champlain,  102,  104-1(17,   140 
}^-;}f';'^^\^^^mts,z,  110;   Basques 
m  124;  Dutch  map,  12.");  in  Ilondius. 
141;  Dudley's  map,  170;  exposed  to 
inroads,  171 ;  Sanson's  map,  17'J ;  Gott- 
fried's map,  ISO ;  Hevlvn's  map,  180 ; 
lilaeu's  map,   181  ;    Visscher's  map, 
l^'l ;  Creuxins's  map,  184,  185;  Ogil- 
by's  map,  210;   Duval's   map,   22(); 
Its  extent,  239 ;    JoHet's  maps,  245, 
240  ;  Hennepin's  m.ip.s.  270,  284,  285  • 
map  (1()8;)),  291 ;  Minet's  map,  :!10  ; 
Jw'tel's    map,    318  ;    Jailot's    map, 

St.  Louis,  city,  site  of,  241. 

St.  Louis,  Lake,  102. 

St.  Lusson  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  202  ;  his 

pageant,  204. 
St.  Malo,  24,  27,  ;](5,  75,  77-79,  91, 112; 

merchants,  101. 
Ste.  Maiie  mission  (Georg'ian  Bay),  159. 
St.  Mark  mission,  200. 
St.  Mary's  current,  ol. 
St.  Michel  Kiver,  ;50. 
St.  Pierre  Island,  .'!0. 
St.  Pierre.  Lake,  85,  192. 
St.  Quenthi,  74. 
Stadacona,  29. 
Starved  Kock.  205,  207,  272,  302 ;  view 

303;  abandoKed,  340.  ' 

Stepliens.  H.  B.,  on  Cartier,  23. 
Steveuf.  Henry,  21. 
Strait  ot  the  Three  Brothers,  .58. 
Sub(Mc;ise,  34;!. 
Snipitians.  179;  and  La  Salle.  211;  at 

.'Montre.ll.    211;    mi.sslon.s.   214;    and 

Jesuits,  220;  and  Frontenac,  253. 
Suite,  Benjamin,  1.50,  152,  183, 189, 215 ; 

C'lmidifiis-Franrais,  30(5. 
Superior,  Lake,  mapped  by  Champlain, 

143;    unseen,    151;    pictured   rooks. 


184  ;  named  Tracy,  198;  mapped  by 
the  Jesmte,  200,  208,  209;  copper  at 
.18;  Its  .size,  222  ;  mapped  by  Fran^ 
quelin,  .!44;  by  Coronelli,  345-  bv 
Kaff.ix,  347;  by  La  Hoiltan,  35' •. 
Hennepin's,  3.58  ;  Wells's,  302 

Susquehanna  Kiver,  117,  121. 

Sylvanus's  map  (1511),  10,*"lL 

Tadenac,  Lake  of,  07. 

Ta^doussac,  settlement  at,  7, 79, 83 ;  map, 

Taensas,  292. 

Tailhan   Father,  20'. 

Talon,  Jean  Bapti.ste,  intendant,  191  • 
aids  western  discoverv,  19;J  ;  and 
western  exploration,  218  •''31  •  .mj 
northern  exploration,  231;  disUked 
rrontenac,  232. 

Tannery,  3(j0. 

Taupine,  La.     See  Moreau. 

Tennessee  Ifiver,  291,  351,  305. 

Ihevenot,  lieaieil,  249. 

Thomassy,  G^dogie  pratique  de  la 
■Louisianr,  29(i,  297. 

Three  Brothei-s,  Strait  of,  73. 

Three  Rivers,  84,  121  ;  settled.  148. 

Unyaites,  P..  G.,  Historic    M-atenvays, 

Ticonderoffa.  Champlain  at,  90,  97. 
lobacco  Nation,  115,  159. 
Tonty,  Henri,  joins  La  Salle,  257 ;  at 
-Niagara,  200  ;  at  the  Detroit  River 
2()1;  on  L.ike  Michigan,  2(i3;  occu- 
pies  Starved    Rock,   2(i8 ;    wounded, 
-'09;  deserts  the   Illinois,  2(i9;  i)ros- 
trated,  270    sought  by  La  Salle.  272, 
288;    disowns  the    JJeriiihcs   Decou- 
vertes,  289,  325  ;  with  La  Salle,  290  • 
at  St.    Ignace,  297;    goes  down  tlio 
iMississippi  to   succor  La  Salle,  322 ; 
his   Mimoires,  325  ;  attacked  at  the 
Rock,   .•!20;    joins   Denonville,    334- 
meets  Jontel,  338 ;  descends  the  Mis- 
sissippi,  338 ;  given  a  jiatent  of   the 
Rock    region,  340;     seeks   Iberville, 
340;  on  the  MississipjH,  .350,305. 
1  ordesillas.  Treaty  of,  0. 
Tournoii.  Cardinal.  37. 
Tracy,  Marquis  de,  191;    attacks   the 

Mohawks,  194. 
Trader  and  priest,  177. 
Trent  River,  117. 
Trinity  River,  321. 

Tiwes,  De.  at  Hudson's  Bay,  331 ;  at 
Niagara,  337. 


Ulpius's  globe,  50. 

Vallard,  Nicolas,  map,  55. 
Van  Rensselaei-s,  130. 
Ventadour,  Duke  of,  120, 129. 


INDEX. 


379 


Vermilion  Sea,  240. 

Vcrmzano  map,  14,  18 ;  sea  of,  17,  18, 

20-1'!'. 
Vespucius'a  alleged  voyage,  8. 
Viegas,  Gaspar,  map,  14,  24,  25. 
Yignau,   Nicolas  de,  lUO ;   his  deceit, 

lOi). 
Ville,  Marie.     8ee  Montreal. 
Vimont,  lielation,  152,  167. 
Vincelot,  IMhi. 
Virginia,  92,  08,  113 ;  wheat  trade,  147 ; 

charter,    203;     her   explorers,   203; 

traders,  242. 
Visseher's  maps,  178,  181. 
Voyageurs,  120. 

Wabash  Kiver,  La  Salle  on,  224,  241. 
25(1,201.  ' 

Walloons,  130. 
Wells,  Edward,  maps,  3G2. 
Western  Sea,  snpposed,  147,  148,  159. 
Westminster,  Treaty  of,  253. 


White,  of  Virginia,  113. 
White  Fish  Indians,  171. 
Whittlesey,  Cliarles.  1178. 
Winnebago  Lake,  171,  200,  349. 
Winnebagoes,  151. 
Winnepesaiikee,  Lake,  100. 
Winnipeg,  Lake,  151. 
Winthrop,  Governor,  invites  the  French 

to  a  commercial  treaty,  173. 
Winthrop,  Fitz-John,  350. 
Winthrop,  Wait,  11 '7. 
Wisconsin  River,    152,   200 ;  Joliet  on, 

2:)7  I  map,  34!>. 
Wolf  liiver,  200. 

Wood,  Colonel  Abraham,  183,  229. 
Wood  River,  230. 
Wytfliut,  his  first  American  atlas,  07, 

101,  280. 

Young,  Captain  Thomas,  140. 
Zalterius,  map,  04,  280. 


